Never Let Me Go
by PINKvsBLUE
Summary: Haley was happy. Things were going well for her at Duke. Nathan was there too, enjoying the parties and girls that came with college and being Duke's star basketball player. The two hardly ever interacted. However something happens. Something which changes how Haley and Nathan interact with each other. How will this change them? Will it be good or bad? Naley fic! Brucas story too.
1. It All Begins

**A/N: Hello! Ok so just some information you need to know about the story. ****Haley and Nathan will be endgame, the main story is centered around them. There will be a small side story with Brooke and Lucas too. Now I love Julian and Brooke truly but for this fic, Brooke and Lucas work well and are needed for the progression of the story. Peyton is in it but in a minor role compared to the others. The whole idea behind the story is that Nathan comes into Haley's life and he just changes things for her and she changes things for him. Whether in a good or bad way,****or both, you just have to read to find out. Nathan and Haley do not down right hate each other in this fic either, they aren't exactly friends or friendly with each other but they don't go out of their way to make each others lives miserable or anything. The fic will be angst filled and fluffy and i'm hoping a bit fun. **

**I don't normally write One Tree Hill fan fics, I normally do Gossip Girl and Veronica Mars ones, but I am genuinely excited for this story the ideas for it keep coming. I hope you guys will like it! Please review feedback is always appreciated. **

**Last thing! There is a time jump in the first chapter, the first scene is the present day but the next scene in chapter 1 goes back a few months. The chapters will lead up to this first scene. Therefore it is vague. Also there isn't a lot of Haley and Nathan interactions in this first chapter but from chapter 2 it increases substantially. Just keep in mind that I am setting things up. **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

**Never Let Me Go**

**Chapter 1: It All Begins**

**Present Day**

Haley's hands were shaking she couldn't believe she was this angry. Her thoughts were racing and her heart was pounding. In a few seconds she would have reached her destination. Ignoring the pain in her ankle, she continued to push on. The double black doors loomed in front of her, they were intimidating, but that didn't stop her from pushing them open. As soon as she stepped inside the venue, her senses were overwhelmed. There were a lot of people there and Haley found the noise particularly distracting. She realized she was on the wrong side of the room, which furthered added to the confused state her mind had temporarily entered into. None of that mattered, however, when she saw the red haired cheerleader across the room from her. Haley took a deep breath and walked straight towards her and across the basketball court. She vaguely registered people yelling at her. Finally, she stopped in front of the girl who had put her in such a rage. She knew what she was about to do was more Brooke's style, but hey, sometimes the girl was the best role model.

'Rachel!' Haley called out. Rachel turned to her with a smug look on her face.

'What, Haley?' That's when Haley lifted her hand and promptly slapped her. Hard. Her hand was stinging but the shocked look on Rachel's face had been worth it.

'That's all.' Haley replied and finally took in her surroundings. The place had gone quiet, which was something considering it was a basketball game. She looked to her right and saw Brooke staring at her, wide eyed but smiling. She looked back at Rachel who was clutching her cheek and too stunned to do anything. She looked behind her and saw that the basket ball players had stopped playing. Five seconds passed when she heard someone calling her.

'Hales,' she turned around and saw Nathan intently staring at her and clutching the basketball. He took a step towards her. Lucas was standing next to Nathan and was watching her very carefully.

'Don't.' she firmly said to him, which caused Nathan to take another step towards her. She looked to Lucas who placed a hand on Nathan's arm preventing him from moving any closer to her. Haley turned back to Brooke and shrugged, she needed to get out of there her feelings were beginning to overwhelm her. She turned to leave and before she had made it very far she heard Brooke's voice.

'And that ladies and gentleman's was Haley James!' Brooke exclaimed and the next voice she heard she recognized too.

'Go Haley!' Peyton began cheering and a moment later Brooke couldn't help but join in. The support she had just received from Brooke and Peyton momentarily suspended the whirlpool of emotions going through Haley and made her give a small chuckle. She reached the door and turned back, just long enough to see the basketball fall from Nathan's grasp. She headed out into the crisp air and finally felt like she could breathe again…

* * *

**A few months earlier**

Haley opened her eyes and sighed happily. It was Saturday. She got out of bed and began making coffee. She noted that it was a beautiful day outside, which made her smile even more. She finished making her coffee and went to sit down on her couch. This was her second year at Duke and she had been placed in her own room. Last year she had been roommates with Brooke, her ever happy and boy crazy friend. While she loved Brooke and had a great time last year with her, she had to admit she quite loved having her own space. She was flipping through a magazine, sipping on her coffee, when she heard a knock at the door. She put the magazine down and went to open the door.

'Morning!' Brooke exclaimed happily. Haley smiled at her and stepped aside so that she could enter. Just as Haley was about to close the door, she heard someone yelling.

'Wait wait wait!' A moment later Lucas entered the room, he gave Haley a peck on the head as he passed her. They had been friends forever. Haley grew up with Lucas and he was the one constant in her life. Although in recent years Brooke had become a feature which Haley couldn't imagine life without. They had become friends in the later years of high school, when one of Brooke's cheerleaders had called in sick a day before a cheer tournament. She stumbled upon Haley doing some exercises and recognized "mold-able skill" in her as Brooke had called it. She made Haley a stand in for the cheerleader and ever since then their friendship had grown. She turned to both her guests and regarded them with a smile.

'Morning,' she said and paused a moment, 'would you guys like some coffee?' They were gathered in her "living room" area which was really just a blue couch and a small T.V.

'Yes please.' They both replied in unison. Haley watched for a moment well Brooke gave Lucas a dazzling smile. The two had been flirting a lot lately. She left the room and fixed two cups of coffee, exactly how Brooke and Lucas liked it. She returned to them and found them flirting as she expected they would be. She handed each of them a mug and decided to find out what had prompted them to visit. She sat down and cleared her throat so as to gather their attention towards her and away from each other- something that was getting harder to do these days.

'What's going on, guys?' Haley asked and smiled at her friends. Brooke was the first to respond.

'I think we should go shopping today,' Brooke casually said with a huge grin on her face. Brooke was a fashion fiend. Her love for fashion coincided and fed her love for shopping. She was studying design and business and was no doubt going to become one of the world's greatest designers and business owner one day.

'And by "think" you mean "we are",' Haley coolly replied.

'Exactly!' Brooke replied and Haley laughed while giving her a nod. She then turned her attention to Lucas.

'Well, after you lovely ladies,' Lucas began and turned his attention over to Brooke when he said 'lovely'- something Brooke hadn't missed, 'are done shopping you can get ready for the party tonight.'

'Ooooh!' Brooke's interest was piqued and she immediately began to question Lucas. 'What time? Where is it? Who is hosting it?' Lucas gave a small laugh.

'It's at a friend's house, I will text you the address, and it starts at eight.' Lucas moved his gaze onto Haley. 'You will be there?' Haley considered this for a moment, she wasn't that big on house parties but she also didn't want to spend her Saturday night alone, while all her friends were out having a good time.

'Definitely,' Haley nodded. Lucas grinned at her.

'I thought I was going to have to do a lot of convincing to get you to go, its why I came over so early.' Lucas said a moment later. Haley was about to respond when Brooke began talking.

'She just wants to show off the new outfit she got at this party,' Brooke said and looked at Haley then Lucas.

'What outfit?' Haley asked surprised.

'The one we are about to go shopping for!' Brooke happily replied, this in turn made Lucas laugh. He stood up.

'I will leave you girls then,' he paused gave Haley another kiss on the head and then turned to Brooke and smiled, 'See you later?' he said to Brooke as more of a question than a statement. The one side of her mouth twitched up into a smile.

'Hopefully.' Brooke responded. Haley watched this and had to hold off her comments until Lucas had left . When he finally had Haley turned to Brooke.

'Was that my imagination or did Lucas kind of just ask you out, in a see-me-at-the-party-kind-of-way?'

'I don't know,' Brooke replied and took a sip of her coffee.

'What is going on with you two these days?' Was Haley's next question.

'I don't know,' Was Brooke's reply once more, she was now avoiding Haley's eye gaze.

'Well, what would you like to happen between you two?' At that Brooke looked up at Haley and a grin spread across her face.

'Let's just say, I wouldn't mind seeing what's under his clothes.' Haley's mouth fell open and she stood up.

'I shouldn't have asked!' Haley said to Brooke and shook her head. 'I'm going to get ready and then we can go shopping.'

* * *

Brooke and Haley had been at the mall for quite awhile. They had contacted their other friend Peyton to see if she would have liked to join them but she was out with her boyfriend Jake. They were however going to join them at the party tonight. They had just sat down for some frozen yogurt when Brooke suddenly squealed. Haley looked at her in surprise and then watched her jump up and run over and hug someone. It took Haley a moment to see passed the crowd, to where Brooke had gone, and who she was hugging. Haley wasn't surprised when she finally saw who it was. The elusive Nathan Scott, Lucas's half brother, although their relationship was more complicated than trying to decode an ancient language that no one had any knowledge of. Haley watched the encounter with interest. Nathan and her hardly ever interacted, they had nothing in common and never really hit it off. Her being best friends with Lucas probably had something to do with it. While Nathan and Lucas got along nowadays, Haley and Nathan never quite bonded. They were casual acquaintances at best. Brooke on the other hand was practically best friends with Nathan. Nathan and Brooke were inseparable in high school, always throwing parties and always the life of the parties. The two of them together had ruled the school. Haley watched them catch up and ate her frozen yogurt, about five minutes later Brooke returned.

'Nathan will be at the party tonight as well!' Haley couldn't help but hear the happiness in Brooke's voice. Nathan wasn't around these days as much as he was last year and she knew Brooke missed him. Something else was on Haley's mind though.

'Brooke, serious question,' Haley started and Brooke gave her her full attention, 'Out of the two Scott boys I always thought you would have gone for Nathan and not Lucas?' Brooke gave a small chuckle.

'First off that would be gross, he is like my brother, secondly I prefer the artistic- broody- kind -of -boy to the athletic- broken- type- of boy.' Haley considered this for a moment.

'Lucas is athletic though, his on the basketball team with Nathan.' Nathan and Lucas were the stars of the Duke basketball team. However Nathan was the captain. Brooke was the head of the cheer leading team, which solely existed to support the basketball team. Something that again made her and Nathan click and get on so well. Haley was also on the cheer leading squad, Brooke would not let her escape from it. It felt very high school to her, but she figured keeping active in college wasn't a bad thing.

'True, but Lucas wants to be a writer. Nathan wants to be a pro basketball player. Lucas is, I don't know, different. His fun and cute and has a way about him that isn't arrogant.' Brooke replied hoping she was making her point clear.

'So Nathan is arrogant?' Haley replied and considered what she had just been told. Brooke laughed.

'Not arrogant but he certainly likes the spotlight. Lucas is a nice balance and nice balance to me.' Haley nodded and watched as Brooke lit up every time she spoke about Lucas. She hadn't realized Brooke liked him so much. She originally thought it was just a flirtatious fun thing but after this conversation she was starting to think Brooke wanted to seriously date Lucas. Something she hadn't done with a lot of boys. Sure she went out with boys all the time, but date them exclusively, that she hardly did. Haley looked at her watch.

'We better get going so we have enough time to look at the last few stores, get back to Campus and get ready for the party.' Brooked nodded.

'I like the way you think, girly!' Haley laughed and they both stood up to finish off their shopping excursion.

* * *

Haley, Brooke and Peyton stood in front of Brooke's mirror doing final touch ups on their make up. They were about to leave for the party. Brooke was dressed in a well fitting strapless maroon dress with her hair down. It was extremely risky and a very Brooke dress. Everything about the dress played to Brooke's features. She was going to have boys all over her. Peyton was in a pretty black top that was low cut, something she knew Jake would appreciate. She paired it with skinny blue jeans and black heels. Haley was in a dark blue dress the back of the dress was really low cut and revealed a significant amount of skin. Brooke has insisted she buy it and wear it when she had tried it on this afternoon. It fit her well and it was casual enough for a party and sexy enough with the back to attract some attention, at least that was what Brooke had told her and what Peyton had confirmed later that evening. She had her hair up in a loose messy bun, which apparently also had a sexy vibe to it, again according to Brooke and Peyton. Haley wasn't the most comfortable with the dress but Brooke and Peyton had insisted that it looked great on her, so she put any worries she had about the dress at the back of her mind. The girls finished up and made their way out, Jake was the designated driver this evening. He was recently recovering from a cold so he insisted that he didn't mind driving them because he wasn't likely to drink. Normally they just would take a taxi. When Jake saw the girls he whistled.

'Looking good, ladies,' he commented and opened the back door of the car for Brooke and Haley to get in.

'We know.' Brooke cheekily replied as she got in. Jake then moved to the passenger door and opened it for Peyton.

'You especially look good, babe.' He said to Peyton and winked at her. She moved closer to him and lowered her voice so only he could hear.

'Wait till you see what is underneath the clothes,' Peyton said to Jake and pulled back to see a naughty smile spread across his face.

Fifteen minutes later they had arrived at the party. Once inside Haley and Brooke went looking for Lucas. Peyton and Jake went to get drinks for everyone. They found Lucas standing with Nathan.

'Hey boys,' Brooke greeted them first. They smiled at her. Lucas immediately took in her appearance and felt his heart race pick up. He couldn't help but think that she looked exquisite.

'Hey,' Haley said to both of them and smiled. Lucas once again kissed her on the top of her head and Nathan nodded. She looked at the boys, she had to admit they both looked extremely good. She glanced around briefly and noticed that there were quite a few girls checking the boys out. She turned her attention back to the group and noticed how Lucas and Brooke had stepped a bit to the side. Brooke laughed and Lucas smiled. The two had wasted no time and were already flirting. Haley inwardly groaned, she wasn't sure what to say to Nathan, she looked up at him and he looked back at her. She was a bit startled when she found herself thinking about how his grey shirt brought out his grey blue eyes.

'So will you be drinking at this party?' Nathan asked.

'What do you mean?' Haley responded.

'You don't usually drink at parties.' Nathan replied. Haley didn't know if had intended to sound mean or if he was just looking for a conversational filler but whatever it was she didn't feel like staying around to find out. She gave him a small smile.

'I think,' she turned around and Nathan inwardly made a sound of approval. The low back on her dress was doing amazing things for her. She turned back to Nathan who kept his cool. After all this was Haley James and she wasn't really his type. 'I'm actually going to go find Peyton and a drink.' With that she left. She was making her way through the crowd when a boy stepped in front of her path.

'Hi,' he said and smiled at her. 'I'm Drew.'

'Haley,' she said. The boy in front of her was quite good looking. He had the greenest eyes Haley had ever seen and they went well with his brown hair.

'Why are you all alone?' he asked her a moment later.

'I'm actually looking for my friend.'

'Well, Haley, why don't you spend some time with me and let your friend find you instead?' Drew tilted his head while waiting for her to respond. Truthfully Haley thought this proposition sounded a lot better than wondering around looking for Peyton. After all, the boy was cute and talking to him was harmless, it couldn't lead to anything bad happening… or at least that was what Haley thought.

* * *

**A/N: Please review! I hope you guys are slightly intrigued.**


	2. Upstairs and Outside

**A/N: First off thank you for the reviews! Please keep reviewing. Also there is a bit of swearing in this chapter. When people are upset they tend to swear. If it really bothers anyone, let me know and I will edit it out. **

**I hope you like it! Please review. **

**Chapter 2: Upstairs and Outside **

_'Hi,' he said and smiled at her. 'I'm Drew.'_

_'Haley,' she said. The boy in front of her was quite good looking. He had the greenest eyes Haley had ever seen and they went well with his brown hair._

_'Why are you all alone?' he asked her a moment later._

_'I'm actually looking for my friend.'_

_'Well, Haley, why don't you spend some time with me and let your friend find you instead?' Drew tilted his head while waiting for her to respond. Truthfully Haley thought this proposition sounded a lot better than wondering around looking for Peyton. After all, the boy was cute and talking to him was harmless, it couldn't lead to anything bad happening… or at least that was what Haley thought._

* * *

Brooke took another sip of her drink and looked up at Lucas she gave him a sexy smile. Lucas tilted his head at her.

'What are you thinking about?'

'I'm thinking there is a pool out there and maybe we should go try it out?' Brooke replied and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Lucas considered her, how was he going to play this? On the one hand, Brooke was stunning and it would be fun. On the other hand though, he didn't want to be just another one of Brooke's boy toys and he had a feeling this is exactly how it would have started with one of them. He smiled at her.

'I think I have a better idea,' he replied and downed the rest of his drink.

'Oh?' Brooke asked and followed Lucas lead by finishing off her drink.

'Follow me,' he said and held out his hand for her. Brooke took it. They were moving through the crowd when she spotted Nathan standing with Peyton and Jake. Nathan caught her gaze and she groaned. He walked over to her and she lightly tugged on Luke's hand, so that he would stop walking. She turned to Lucas.

'Give me a minute,' she said and titled her head towards Nathan. 'Your baby brother needs some reassurance.' Lucas laughed and stepped back.

'I will be here,' he said to her and smiled, 'Waiting.' Brooke winked at him and walked over to Nathan.

'What's up, Scott?' she asked Nathan who crossed his arms.

'Am I going to have to beat up Lucas?' Brooke laughed.

'It wouldn't be the first time you guys got physical,' she paused and put a finger on her chin, 'but I seem to recall him winning a few of those fights.' Nathan scoffed.

'Only because I let him,' Nathan fixed her with a stern gaze.

'Relax, Baby Scott, you know me-' Nathan interrupted Brooke, one because he hated when she called him 'Baby Scott' and two because he knew where this was going.

'Exactly! I do know you, it's why I'm busy having this chat with you.' Brooke laughed.

'Well, if you know me so well, then you know I can handle myself with boys, plus it's Lucas,' she paused and folded her arms. 'He respects girls a lot more than you do, Scott.' Nathan's face grew into a smirk. He considered this for a moment, he did get along with Lucas these days and he knew he was a decent guy. He sighed.

'You're right, maybe I should be warning Lucas!' Nathan finally replied and watched as Brooke's face changed from having a grin on it to an incredulous look. She smacked his arm. Nathan laughed. 'Listen, seriously though Brooke, just handle this situation with care and I will beat him up if you want me to.' Brooke laughed again.

'See you later, Scott,' she turned to leave when she suddenly paused and turned back around. 'Nathan?' she called back to him, he turned back around and looked at her. 'Have you seen Haley?' Nathan shook his head. 'She hasn't stopped by to talk to Peyton?' Brooke asked and once again Nathan shook his head. Brooke smiled.

'Interesting she must be making some new "friends",' the way Brooke had said "friends" made Nathan laugh. 'Oh and one more thing, just wait here.' Before Nathan could protest, Brooke had run up to where Lucas was standing. Nathan watched as she moved in quite close to him and then slowly she reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. He really hadn't wanted to see that.

'What are you doing?' Lucas asked her.

'You won't need this.' Brooke quickly replied and then went straight back to Nathan. When she reached him, she handed him her and Luke's phones.

'Brooke, why are you giving me yours and Luke's phone?' He asked her a tiny bit annoyed he was about to become responsible for two more phones.

'They may get wet,' she stated in a matter of fact way, 'give mine to Peyton she will look after it, you keep Luke's phone.' Nathan didn't have time to argue with her because she quickly turned around and left. When she reached Lucas she once again took his hand and he began leading the way once again.

* * *

Nathan walked back to Peyton and Jake. He held out Brooke's phone and Peyton looked down at it. She sighed and took it from his hand.

'You would be surprised by how many times I end up looking after this phone,' Peyton said and put in the small bag she had brought with her. Nathan laughed.

'I don't think I would be actually.' Nathan put Luke's phone in his pocket he spent a few more minutes with Jake and Peyton and then left. They were starting to get couple cute. He made his way round the room and spotted a pretty little blonde girl. He casually made his way over to her, with a dazzling smile in place.

* * *

Haley laughed. She was still with Drew. She had to admit, he was rather funny and oh so good looking.

'Can I get you a drink?' Drew offered and ran a hand through his hair. Haley smiled at him.

'Sure.'

'I'll be right back, Haley.' Drew smiled at her and turned away. Haley leant against the wall and started people watching. She had just watched a guy do a ridiculously funny-chicken-like dancing move when her eyes strayed across the room. There she saw Nathan talking to some petite blonde girl. She was still staring at them when Drew returned. He held out a red cup for her and she took it giving him a small smile.

'Thanks,' Haley looked down at the drink and then back at Nathan. It must have been one of those weird moments when you can feel someone watching you because Nathan's head turned and he looked directly back at her. Haley quickly dropped her gaze and then looked back at Drew. 'What's in the drink?' she asked trying to ignore the feeling that Nathan was still watching her.

'Just some rum and coke.' Haley nodded and smiled. She would never tell Drew this but she hated rum. She could do vodka and other mixers but she could not stomach rum at all. She pretended to take a sip of the drink.

Across the room Nathan felt his stomach sink. He couldn't be sure but he thought the guy Haley was with had a really bad reputation. He was trying to pay attention to Lisa, the girl he had just met, but his attention kept turning towards Haley. The guy had his back towards Nathan so he couldn't see him properly. Nathan tried to keep his frustration at bay, if he could just get a solid look at his face he would know if Haley had anything to worry about or if he did. He sighed, thinking that Lucas and Brooke should probably be the ones dealing with this. He hardly knew Haley-

'Nathan!' His thoughts were interrupted by Lisa who was looking up at him expectantly. 'What do you think?' Nathan sighed he gave Lisa a smile and asked her to repeat what she had said. He made a mental note to find Peyton and send her to Haley and with that he attempted to focus his attention back on Lisa.

* * *

'Come with me,' Drew said and took a hold of Haley's hand.

'Where are we going?'

'I want to show you the view from this one room,' Drew paused and smiled at her again, 'I think you will like it.' Haley considered this she didn't normally go off with boys she had just met. She also hadn't found any of her friends. She figured they were all around having a good time. She sighed, she also deserved to have a good time and Drew hadn't done anything that had alarm bells going off in her head. She shrugged.

'Ok, but after that I need to go find my one friend.' Haley added this in so that she was sure they had reason to come back down to the party.

'Of course.' Drew agreed and started to lead her towards the stairs.

Nathan looked to where Lisa had placed her hand on his chest, although this girl was pretty, she was a bit demanding. She had got quite upset when Nathan hadn't been paying her attention. He decided to keep flirting with her though, maybe they could have some harmless fun later. She was busy telling him about some party she had recently been to when he instinctively looked back over to where Haley had been standing. She was gone. Nathan kept staring at the place she had been at, he was surprised to find he was rather nervous. He shook his head he was probably just over reacting. Someone would have warned her if they guy she was with was someone she should stay away from. He turned back to Lisa and started to nod a long to her story.

* * *

'Well, you were right,' Haley said and turned around to face Drew. 'The view up here is great.' They had gone upstairs to a room, which had quite a stunning view. She could just see lights everywhere out there. She looked at Drew, they had been up here for quite some time and Haley was beginning to think it was time to head back down to the party.

'I'm glad you liked it,' Drew moved closer to her, Haley shifted a bit uncomfortably.

'I should probably go find my friend now,' Haley began but Drew took another step towards her and smiled.

'Where's your drink?' he suddenly asked and took a look around the room.

'I must have left it downstairs,' Haley replied in a silly-me-voice. Truthfully she had purposefully left it on a table before they had come upstairs. 'Let's go find my friend and get me another drink.' Haley stated again and tried to move away but Drew stepped forward again, making her step back.

'That's a shame,' Drew mumbled, not seeming to be listening to anything Haley was saying. 'But it doesn't matter.' He again stepped forward and when Haley stepped back she felt her back land against a wall. Drew put his one arm up on the wall and with the other tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. 'You seem keen enough.' That was the last thing Drew said before he leaned in to kiss her. Haley promptly pushed him away.

'What are you doing? I want to go downstairs.' Haley stated firmly. Her mind was racing, what the hell was happening?

'Don't worry, Haley, I know the guy who owns this place he won't mind if we are up here.'

'That's not what-' Haley began but was once again cut off by Drew kissing her. She pushed him again.

'Drew, stop!' She said forcefully, trying to push him away. The problem though, was that he was a lot bigger than her and consequently a lot more stronger than her little frame could fight against.

'Haley, you can't tell me you don't want this, stop fighting me.' There was an edge to Drew's voice now. He pushed her against the wall and used his weight to keep her there. Haley was panicking, she was trying to push him away or move away, but he was to strong and his grip on her was getting harder. He started to kiss her neck and Haley once again tried to push him away. He had her arms pinned though. She tried to kick him but again no luck.

'Stop it!' she yelled out but Drew ignored her and kept doing what he wanted. Haley was panicking and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She could not believe this was happening to _her. _Drew had seemed like a nice guy. What the hell was she going to do? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her thoughts. She needed to think straight or else she wasn't going to get out of this until Drew was done. She shuddered. She couldn't move. She couldn't fight back. Her hands clenched into fists and that's when she felt her phone. She had forgotten about it, her dress had pockets in it. You couldn't see them but they were there and Haley had put her phone in the right dress pocket earlier that evening. Haley could move her hand just enough to get into the pocket her phone was in. She held it, felt for the button on the side that activated the silent mode, she didn't want Drew hearing her keypad. She then felt for the other button that lowered the voices on calls. She pushed it down. She knew who to call. She pushed the number 2 down on her phone and she knew it would be calling Lucas. She was thankful she had him on speed dial, trying to actually dial the number, with her shaking hand which could barely move would have been impossible. She let it ring for a bit and then ended the call. A second later she redialed, then ended the call once more, she waited a few more seconds and then redialed.

* * *

Nathan had his one hand on Lisa's waist. Things were going well with her. He took a sip of his drink, which he was holding in his free hand. Lisa smiled up at him and batted hey eye lashes. Nathan leaned down to kiss her, when suddenly he felt something vibrate in his pocket. He hesitated for a second debating whether to ignore the phone or not however, it seems his decision was decided for him when a few seconds later the vibrations stopped. He entangled his one hand in Lisa's hair continuing to move in to kiss her when the phone began to vibrate again. Once again, ignoring the phone Nathan continued to lean down, he felt the phone stop vibrating once more and as Lisa leaned up towards him it started vibrating again. Nathan gave a grunt of frustration and pulled back.

'Sorry, I just need to check something.' he said to a disappointed Lisa. He took out Luke's phone and saw three missed calls, all from Haley. Nathan thought something odd was going on. Just then Haley called again and before Nathan could answer the call, it had ended. He was about to call her back when Haley's number appeared on the screen again. He didn't hesitate and quickly answered.

'Haley?' he said but received no response. He was about to say her name again, a bit louder this time, when he heard her talking.

'Drew, stop! I want to go downstairs!' Haley sounded scared and panicked and that was all Nathan needed to hear.

'Fuck!' Nathan exclaimed and turned away from Lisa without explaining anything. Mentally Nathan was kicking himself for not having intervened earlier when he saw Haley with that guy. He moved to the stairs quickly and ran up them, pushing past people. His heart was racing. He figured if she wanted to go downstairs they must be upstairs.

'Nate!' he heard someone yell out and he looked behind him. It was Tim.

'Not now!' Nathan yelled and didn't slow down. He reached the top of the stairs and his heart rate increased. He looked around nervously, there were a lot of rooms up here.

'Fuck!' he said and began opening doors. He reached the end of the corridor and yanked open the door to the last room he had to check. Standing in the doorway, he saw Haley pinned against a wall, struggling against Drew. Her face was red and when she saw Nathan the relief that flooded across her face did something to Nathan. Something shifted within him, he had never wanted to protect someone so much in his entire life.

'What the hell is going on here?!' Nathan forcefully said and stepped inside the room.

* * *

**A/N: Please review! I will try and update every week. If I get really busy it may be every two weeks. I try to write about 1000 words a day for the story. So it should be viable to get an update out every week. Of course reviews do help to keep writers motivated :) **

**I hope some of you are still interested in the story! **


	3. Not Going Anywhere

**A/N: Ah I am loving the enthusiasm for this story. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. Please keep reviewing. Honestly, it makes the writing process that much more enjoyable. **

**Please remember while Naley is the main component to the story, I do have a Brucas story going on too. **

**Also the first paragraph of chapter 3 is Haley's point of view just as Nathan finds her. It then picks up from where chapter 2 left off.**

**Please keep reviewing!**

**Chapter 3: Not Going Anywhere**

Haley had managed to get her hands free, not that it helped her much. She was pushing hard against Drew wondering if Lucas had seen any of her calls. She was physically tired and wasn't sure how much longer she could keep fighting Drew- he was growing more aggressive by the second. She gave a few more hard pushes against him when suddenly, she heard the room door swing open, she looked up and saw Nathan standing in the doorway. Not who she had expected but the relief that shot through her at his arrival almost brought her to tears. She caught his gaze and as she did she noticed something shift in his expression. He looked so fierce.

'What the hell is going on here?!' she heard him forcefully say and enter the room closing the door behind him. His words were enough to stop Drew and make him turn around. Haley immediately moved away from the wall. She was shaking. Nathan stormed up to Drew.

'Nathan,' Drew said casually. Nathan wasn't surprised that Drew knew his name the basketball players at Duke were quite popular. 'We were just having some fun.' Drew added a moment later and gave Nathan a nervous smile.

'It didn't look like Haley was having fun!' Nathan grabbed Drew by the shirt and pushed him against the wall.

'Dude, chill-' Drew began and it was enough to push Nathan over the edge. He swiftly punched Drew in the face. Drew sagged against the wall and Nathan let him go.

'If I see you anywhere near Haley again,' Nathan paused and moved closer to Drew grabbing him by the shirt once more, forcing him to look at him, 'I will hurt you to the point that you won't ever remember your name again. In actual fact, I don't want to see you at a Duke party ever again.' He knocked him against the wall and let him go. He watched as Drew cowered and then he turned away from him and looked at Haley. He could see her shaking. He watched her look at Drew who was holding his head, she then looked back up at Nathan and before he could do or say anything she swiftly left the room.

'Haley!' Nathan called after her and turned to follow her out. She was literally running out of the party. He was right behind her when he saw Tim and momentarily paused, he stormed up to Tim.

'Tim, call the police and tell them to arrest Drew. His in the room at the end of the upstairs corridor. Tell them he just attempted to assault a girl.' Tim nodded he knew when not to push Nathan. Nathan nodded back, he knew Tim could be silly sometimes but he was reliable when he needed to be. He turned away and ran down the rest of the stairs, he couldn't see Haley anymore but his instincts told him she was heading outside. He moved through the crowd quickly. Not stopping for anyone. He was outside within seconds. He paused and looked around, he couldn't see her. It was dark outside and there didn't seem to be anyone around. He took a few steps forward, hands behind his head. He was stressed and what's more he couldn't shake the uncontrollable need coursing through him to see Haley. He figured he probably should have gone and found Lucas or Brooke but he didn't want to waste any time. He turned in a circle looking for her. Finally, he spotted a bent over figure clutching a tree. His body relaxed slightly, he knew it was her. Just then Haley straightened and spotted Nathan, she didn't hesitate, she immediately began walking again. She didn't know why she wanted to leave, she knew she should thank Nathan but she just wanted to be alone. Nathan immediately began running when she started to walk away.

'Haley!' he called after her but she didn't stop. He finally caught up to her and could follow her by simply walking briskly. However, she made no move to slow down or stop walking. 'Haley…' he said again a bit softer, which just made her walk faster. Nathan stopped and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. 'Hales!' he said a bit more forcefully and she finally stopped. She didn't know why but hearing Nathan call her Hales made her instinctively stop. Haley stood with her back to Nathan and closed her eyes for a second. She took a deep breath and finally turned around. She looked up at Nathan. He was staring at her intently and it was making her uncomfortable, he hadn't said anything either. A few more silent moments passed which lead Haley to take another deep breath and finally speak.

'No one calls me that,' she said softly and had to concentrate to keep her voice from shaking.

'What?' Nathan asked confused and shook his head.

'Hales…' Haley clarified and Nathan nodded.

'Well, they should.' Nathan said and stood there watching her. She was still shaking. He hadn't expected them to be standing out here having a conversation about her name after what had just happened. However, he knew better than to ask her if she was ok. She clearly was not.

'Nathan, can you find B-Brooke?' Haley said and this time her voice did shake.

'Yeah, of course, but why don't you come with me?' Nathan suggested he didn't want to leave Haley alone. She shook her head.

'No, can you find Brooke and tell her,' She had to pause and take a deep breath to calm herself. She refused to cry but that hadn't stopped her body from reacting to what had just happened and no matter how hard she was trying to stop it, she was still shaking. 'That I went home?' she finally finished and watched as a startled expression crossed Nathan's face. Haley was about to turn away but Nathan took a step forward and she paused.

'What do you mean?' Nathan asked her seriously. 'You can't go, we need to talk to the police-'

'I can do that tomorrow.' That was the last thing Haley wanted to do right now. 'I just want to go back to my room n-now.' Again her voice shook again.

'How do you plan on getting there?' Nathan asked, he was surprised at the words that had come out of his mouth. He was ready to argue with her, tell her that she needed to talk to the police now. But somehow he knew better than to push it.

'I was going to walk a bit and then get a cab-'

'Alone?!' Nathan asked and carried on talking before Haley had a chance to respond. 'Like hell you are!' he said angrily a moment later and crossed his arms.

'Nathan, I will be fine, I need to go-' Haley began but was once again cut off by Nathan.

'Hales, I am serious you aren't going anywhere alone,' he paused and moved closer to her. He took his jacket off. 'You are shaking.' He said and held it out for her. He knew she wasn't shaking because she was cold but he figured a small gesture like that might help. Haley hesitated but took the jacket.

'I'm going to go,' she said again and put the jacket on. 'Will you find Brooke?' Nathan shook his head.

'No, I'll take you back. I'll let Peyton know, she has Brooke's phone anyway.'

'Nathan, I will be-' she stopped talking when Nathan walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

'Come on, my car is over there.' He started leading the way. He could feel Haley shaking and his whole body tensed. She leaned a bit into him as they walked to his car. He wanted to go back into that party and beat Drew up even more. He made a mental note to call Tim and see what happened with the police. He would get Haley to deal with that tomorrow, but for now he sure as hell wasn't going to let her go back to campus alone.

* * *

Brooke did a little twirl and laughed, she then sat back down next to Lucas and took a hold of the bottle of alcohol they had acquired. She took a sip from it.

'So, did you like what you saw?' Brooke asked a moment later and winked at Lucas. Lucas laughed and took the bottle from her.

'A boy never tells,' Lucas said and took a sip of the alcohol. Brooke smiled at him.

'Maybe not with your words…' she said and let her eyes trail down. Lucas knew what she meant and again couldn't help but laugh. Lucas had brought her to an outside area, where they had a small pool and a great view. Everyone else who was outside was by the main pool. Needless to say this was a big house. When they reached the pool Brooke had immediately suggested they go swimming but Lucas shook his head. He left her for a few minutes and returned with a bottle alcohol. He then took off his shoes and rolled up the legs of his pants, he put his feet in the water and Brooke followed suit. After that, Lucas had suggested playing a drinking again. They had started with "I never" but eventually that had faded and they had just sat there having a good time and laughing. Brooke tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and was about to say something when she heard the music from inside. The song "Feel so close" was playing, she could feel the smile spread across her face. She loved this song. Lucas watched the smile spread across Brooke's face and he couldn't help but smile. Damn, she was beautiful he thought, he also noticed her bobbing her head to the song. He stood up and held out his hand.

'Dance with me, Davis.' Brooke grinned and took his hand. They immediately began dancing, Lucas spun her and then she moved in closer to him. Their bodies were extremely close and Lucas moved his hands to her hips. Brooke reveled in the feel of Lucas so close to her and with his hands on her hips. She had to admit he could dance pretty well with her too. The song was nearing the end, when he slowed a bit down and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

'So Brooke are you going to go out,' he paused and caught her gaze, 'on a _date_ with me next week?' he asked her and made sure to emphasize the word date. The whole night he had purposefully kept things as PG 13 as possible to ensure he had a real shot with Brooke and not just a one night stand. Brooke considered him.

'I don't know,' she said and wrapped her hands around his neck.

'But that's not a no?' Lucas asked and she nodded. He smiled. 'I can work with that.' He said a moment later and Brooke laughed. 'You want to go back inside?' Lucas then asked her. She shook her head.

'Can we keep dancing a bit?' she smiled at him, she didn't want this part of their evening to end quite yet. She was enjoying it so much. She was enjoying Luke and when he had asked her out she screamed with excitement on the inside. However, she knew that she needed to play it coolly, after all this was one of her friends she was possibly about to start dating.

'Of course we can.' Luke replied and watched as Brooke stopped, quickly took a sip of the alcohol and handed it to him, he took a sip, placed it down and she immediately moved back closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck again and they continued to dance.

* * *

'This is me,' Haley said as her and Nathan came to stop outside a door. She began to fumble with her keys and Nathan watched as she moved a hand to the door, inserted the key and then turn the doorknob. The whole time her hand shook but it was much less than when he had watched her open and close his car door. Haley immediately entered and went to turn on lights. She had left the door open for Nathan. He paused before going inside. He took out his cell phone. He first dialed Peyton, it took a few rings but she eventually answered.

'Hello,' she said quite loudly, Nathan could hear the music in the background.

'Hey Peyton, can you go somewhere quiet quickly?' Nathan asked and began pacing the corridor. He wasn't sure how much he should tell her. Peyton obliged and a minute later she was in a quiet room.

'What's up, Nathan?' she asked him.

'Listen, Haley's gone home and can you tell Lucas that he can get his phone from me tomorrow.'

'Oh ok,' Peyton said and then a moment later she added, 'where are you?'

'I took Haley back.' Nathan answered.

'Why?' Peyton asked and he could hear the surprise in her voice. He held back a groan. Why? Because a guy had just tried to sexually assault her and she was stubborn and for some inexplicable reason he couldn't comprehend leaving her alone. Not even for a second to go find Lucas or Brooke, when that was probably what he should have done. That was the reply going through his head but he figured that if he told Peyton what had just happened she would be over here in five minutes flat. He looked through the door at Haley and he just knew that was not what she needed.

'She wasn't feeling well,' Nathan lied and began pacing again. 'Will you make sure the others get the message?'

'Yeah, no problem.' Peyton replied and with that the phone call ended. Nathan then dialed Tim's number.

'Dude, what is going on?' Tim asked as soon as he answered the phone.

'I can't tell you right now,' Nathan said. 'What happened with the police?'

'They took Drew away but they said the girl had to come down to the station else they won't be able to do anything.' Nathan sighed in frustration.

'Did Drew say anything?'

'No. He just said it was a misunderstanding.' Nathan's hand clenched around the phone.

'Ok, thanks, dude. I will see you at practice tomorrow.' Nathan said and ended the phone call. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. He really wanted to beat up Drew even more… a fucking misunderstanding. He couldn't believe it he shook his head and took another deep breath. He then turned around and entered Haley's dorm room. He closed the door and looked around. She wasn't in the kitchen or lounge area. Her room door was closed. He sat down on the couch and then his eyes caught hold of her DVD collection. He checked the time it was only eleven thirty, which meant it was early for a Saturday night. He heard the shower go on and began to go through the DVD's. Ten minutes later Haley entered the room. Her hair was wet and she had changed. Nathan looked her over, she wasn't shaking anymore and she seemed relatively ok. It didn't mean he was leaving her though.

'You want something to drink?' Haley asked Nathan, she was surprised he was still there. She didn't know when he was going to go but she didn't want to kick him out right then. At first she had wanted to be alone but having him around kept her thoughts from overwhelming her.

'Sure,' he said and then paused. 'Do you have hot chocolate?' he added in a moment later. Haley raised an eyebrow, she had not expected that.

'Yeah,' she turned and went to make them some hot chocolate. She returned five minutes later to find Nathan putting on a DVD.

'What are you doing?' she asked and he turned around.

'For a girl, your movie collection is actually ok,' he paused and watched as intrigued expression crossed her face. 'It's still early, if I go to bed now I won't fall asleep for at least another three hours, I figure we can just watch a movie.'

'Your earlier comment was kind of sexist,' Haley said and held out a cup for Nathan. He moved to take it. He looked at her hand and then up at her arm, he could see bruises forming on it. He took the cup and felt his other hand clench into a fist. He sat down, not saying anything about the bruises.

'It can't be sexist if it's true,' he took a sip of his hot chocolate. 'Girls have shit taste in movies.' Haley sat down on the couch next to him. She shook her head.

'Why because they don't always involve things being blown up and exciting car chases?'

'No, because they are all emotional and crap.' Haley actually gave a small laugh at that and Nathan turned to look at her. It was small and barely audible but he had managed to make her laugh. He knew that the aftermath of tonight would hit her sometime but if he could delay it for a bit and make her feel a tiny bit better then that was ok. He figured he could deal with the aftermath later.

'What are we watching?' Haley asked when Nathan just kept staring at her.

'Zombieland,' he said and held her gaze 'and then I was thinking we could watch Due Date.' Haley settled back against the couch and Nathan pressed play. She was still too stressed to go to sleep and she liked those movies. She actually would have liked whatever movie Nathan had picked considering they were all hers. They were half way through the second movie when Haley looked over at Nathan. She was so grateful that he had stopped Drew and that he hadn't pushed her to explain what had happened. She knew eventually she would have to tell him and ask him why he had been the one to find her but she didn't feel like bringing up any of those topic right now.

'Nathan,' she said and he turned to face her, she looked at those blue eyes and held his gaze. 'Thank you.' She finally said 'Really, thank you.' Nathan held her gaze.

'Anytime, Hales.' And he actually meant it, he then turned his attention back to the movie. When he looked back a few moments later she had fallen asleep. Nathan took the blanket that was draped over the top of the couch and covered her with it. He considered leaving and then she shifted, she was a bit closer to him and he could clearly see bruises on her arm. He looked at them and then at her. She looked so peaceful but he knew when she woke up in the morning, she wasn't going to be calm. He didn't know what reaction she would have but he was staying to find out.

* * *

**A/N: Alright expect another update around Friday maybe Saturday. I won't be able to write much on Monday and Tuesday. And then just a small hint about upcoming chapters, Haley and Nathan's interactions are going to change. Its not always going to be peaceful and protective but that doesn't mean there won't be any fun moments either. **

**Please leave a review!**


	4. Reasons Exist

**A/N: Here is this week's update. :) Thank you for the reviews, I really appreciate them! Please keep reviewing. I know this chapter isn't as exciting as the last one but please note that I do have to set up some things for later more drama filled chapters. **

**Thanks again for the reviews and please keep it up!**

**Chapter 4: Reasons Exist **

Haley slowly opened her eyes her whole body felt stiff. She stretched out and slowly as every nerve started to wake up the events of the previous evening came back to her. With each detail her breathing began to increase. Suddenly, she sat bolt upright, she was in bed. Which was fine except the last thing she remembered was watching movies with Nathan and falling asleep on the couch. She got out of bed and opened her door and there she saw Nathan fast asleep on her couch. She figured he must have carried her to bed. She wasn't quite sure how to process that piece of information. What's more he was still here. Haley crossed her arms and they felt tender. She looked down and saw a few bruises. She took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, she began making coffee. She had just finished fixing two cups when she noticed the time. She inwardly groaned. She picked up the mug and placed it down on the small table she had. She moved over to Nathan.

'Nathan…' she said in an even voice and he did nothing. 'Nathan.' she repeated again. Once again no response, he didn't even twitch a muscle. She sighed and then moved over to him, she crouched down. 'Nathan!' she said again a bit more loudly and shook him a bit. This time he groaned. Slowly he started to wake up.

'Hales, it's early.' Nathan groaned and turned over in the couch to go back to sleep.

'It's ten! And you need to go!' Haley said and stood up. She considered her words and how harsh they sounded. 'Brooke is going to be over here in like ten minutes.' She added. That got Nathan's attention he turned around and sat back up. He ran a hand through his hair and then Haley offered him the cup of coffee. He took it from her.

'Thanks,' he said as she sat down next to him and picked up her cup of coffee.

'She comes over every Sunday morning after a party,' Haley began explaining, Nathan looked at her, he could clearly see how nervous she was. 'I don't know how exactly I would explain you still being over here and I really-'

'Haley, I think you should tell her what happened last night.' Nathan interrupted her and stated firmly. Her friends needed to know. Haley looked over at him wide eyed.

'I can't do that.' She stood up and began pacing.

'You need to tell them,' Nathan watched her as she was pacing and noticed how her nervous state was starting to mix with frustration.

'I can't,' she said and stopped to look at him. 'You can't tell them either.' She began pacing again. Nathan took a sip of his coffee and then stood up. He walked over to her.

'Hales…' he said and caught hold of her. He stopped her from pacing and made her look at him. 'You need to tell them.'

'No,' she stated firmly and Nathan saw the resolved looks in her eyes. 'And you can't tell them.' He considered her for a moment.

'Fine,' Nathan said still holding her shoulders, 'but I have a condition.' Haley raised her eyebrows at him.

'And that condition would be?'

'You have to go talk to the police today, I asked Tim to call them last night.' Nathan stated and watched as she took a sharp intake of breath and a range of emotions crossed her face. 'He doesn't know you were the girl.' Nathan added a moment later. She considered this proposition.

'Fine, Nathan.' She finally agreed and looked down.

'You have to go today, I want you to promise.' Nathan said.

'I promise,' Haley said and looked back up at him she started to bounce in his arms. 'Brooke will be here any second…' she said and Nathan let go of her. He nodded he was hesitant to leave her. She was fiddling with her fingers, clearly still nervous. He then looked at her arms the bruises had clearly formed. He sighed this time in frustration.

'Nathan!' Haley exclaimed when he still hadn't moved he held his hands up.

'I'm going.' He moved to the door. Haley opened it for him.

'Nathan,' she said just as he stepped through the door. He turned around to look at her. 'Thank you.' she said to him and caught his gaze he simply nodded in response and then kept walking. Haley closed the door and leaned against it for a second, she looked down at her arms, she needed to cover the bruises up. She quickly went to her room and got a light hoodie. She had just manage to put it on when she heard a knock at her door. She went over and there was Brooke grinning at her. Brooke immediately came inside.

'What happened to you last night? You won't believe the night I had!' Brooke immediately began and went and sat down. She paused for a moment and then grinned at Haley even more. 'Oh my word, was there a boy here!?' Brooke exclaimed a moment later.

'What?' Haley asked completely caught off guard.

'There are two mugs,' Brooke stated and turned all her attention on Haley. 'Spill!' Haley sat down.

'No no, the one cup was from the cup of coffee I had last night and the other is from this morning,' Haley quickly mumbled out, it wasn't the most eloquent lie. She then quickly picked up both mugs and went and put them in her sink. She didn't want any more questions from Brooke. When she returned she noticed Brooke looked disappointed.

'So tell me about your night?' Haley asked and with that all disappointment vanished from Brooke's face. Brooke began telling her about Lucas and what they had done and how he had asked her out and the dancing when she suddenly paused.

'Haley, are you ok?' Brooke asked and interrupted her story. Haley had been a bit distracted and looked up at her friend.

'Yeah, of course.' She nervously replied and tried to give Brooke the best smile she could muster.

'It's just you keep fidgeting with your hands and you look nervous and,' Brooke paused and studied Haley. 'and you look... just not ok.'

'Really, Brooke, I'm fine.' Haley said and smiled once again. She wondered if she said that enough times if it would start to become true.

* * *

Nathan paced the court, they had just finished basket ball practice. Everyone else was going to shower but Nathan stayed back, he wanted to shoot some balls for a bit. He had to admit that practice had slightly relaxed him. That was after he had given Lucas back his phone and found Tim and made sure he wasn't going to say anything. He had just got nine balls in a row in and was aiming for ten when the doors opened.

'Baby Scott!' He knew it was Brooke before he even turned around. She came walking up to him with a huge smile on her face. 'I hardly saw you last night!' She said when she stopped in front of him.

'That's because you were off doing whatever you were doing with my brother.' Nathan replied and watched as Brooke winked at him. He held his arms open to hug her but Brooke stepped back.

'Eew, no, you are all sweaty.' Nathan laughed.

'What are you doing here, Brooke?' she huffed at him.

'Practice Nathan, you would think you would know that already.' The cheer leading squad always practiced after the basket ball players. Nathan cocked his head, he suddenly wanted to know if Haley would be at the practice. He couldn't ask Brooke though without raising some sort of suspicion. Brooke was about to say something to him when they were both interrupted. Lucas had joined them and as soon as he saw Brooke he gave her the biggest smile.

'Brooke, do you have a minute?' Lucas asked.

'Is that all you need?' Nathan said quickly. Brooke laughed getting the innuendo and Lucas turned to Nathan.

'Ha ha,' he shook his head and turned back to her. 'So?' She nodded.

'Yeah, I can talk.' Brooke responded. 'See you later, Nathan?' Brooke asked him and he nodded. He considered Brooke and Lucas for a moment they were both here and he was playing with the idea of telling them about Haley. He actually stepped forward and was about to stop them from leaving when he noticed another figure enter the gym. Haley.

'See you later.' Nathan finally said and Brooke and Lucas moved over to the side.

'So, I have something for you,' Lucas began and took something out of his bag. He handed Brooke an envelope. She took it and made to open it but Lucas stopped her. 'You can only open it on Friday.' Brooke looked frustrated.

'But I want to know what it is?' she whined and gave him a smile. 'Can't I sneak a peek?'

'No, and I will know if you open it before Friday.' Lucas then leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek. He was about to turn and leave when Brooke stopped him.

'At least tell me what this has to do with?' She smiled up at him and batted her eyelashes. He laughed.

'No-'

'But-' Brooke interrupted.

'You just have to be patient,' Lucas stated before she could continue.

'When have you ever known me to be patient, Luke?'

'Well, just consider this as a way to work on that skill!' Brooke smacked his arm and pouted.

'Come on, one hint?' she asked.

'No.' Lucas replied.

'Why?' Brooke folded her arms.

'Because you are to used to getting what you want,' Lucas winked at her.

'Oh, Scott, it's on!' Brooke replied and began walking away. 'You're in trouble now.'

'I look forward to it!' Lucas replied and watched as she grinned at him while walking away.

* * *

Nathan watched as Brooke and Lucas walked over to the other side of the room. He took this opportunity to go and talk to Haley. He quickly made his was over to her.

'So did you talk to the police?' Nathan got straight to the point when he saw her. She shifted.

'I did, a few hours ago.' Practice was always late in the afternoon. After Brooke had left Haley had showered and went to the police station.

'And what happened?'

'Nothing,' Haley replied and glanced over to where Lucas and Brooke were. They were smiling and flirting.

'What do you mean?' Haley sighed and looked up at Nathan. His blue eyes were staring at her intently.

'I didn't press charges,' Haley stated and she watched as anger flashed across Nathan's face.

'Why the hell not, Haley?'

'I had my reasons, Nathan.'

'Well, whatever they were they are stupid!'

'Nathan, the police scared him, he won't be coming near me or any other girl again-' Nathan interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.

'Him being in jail would also ensure that!' Nathan said a bit too loudly. They both glanced over to Brooke and Lucas, luckily they were to engaged with each other to have noticed them.

'Nathan, back off.' Haley stated firmly. 'I can make my own decisions.' Nathan crossed his arms he wasn't used to people telling him off. Normally they would skirt around him and babble excuses to him, Haley simply was not playing that game.

'You should have pressed charges.' Haley folded her arms and matched Nathan's stubbornness.

'Well, I didn't. And I'm not going too. So just drop it.' Nathan scoffed.

'Not a chance!' he said to her and took a step forward. 'The ass deserves to be punished.'

'He was. You beat him up and the police scared him-'

'Is that it? Do you feel sympathy for him? That his been punished enough?'

'What?!' Haley asked incredulously. 'Nathan, I have nothing but anger for him, don't judge me! I had my reasons for not pressing chargers.' Haley glanced back at Brooke and noticed that she was walking away from Lucas. 'This conversation is over.' Haley said to Nathan. 'Thank you for what you did, but you need to back off now.' Nathan cocked his head and considered Haley's words. She was giving him an easy out, and if he took it he didn't need to worry about this situation anymore but something was nagging at him. He inwardly groaned because he knew he wasn't going to take the out.

'No, not until you tell me why, Hales.' Haley finally took a hold of Nathan's gaze and actually stepped closer to him.

'Leave it alone!' She stated firmly and then walked away. She didn't look back to see Nathan's reaction. Instead she walked over and met up with Brooke.

'What's that?' Haley asked Brooke as she reached her and pointed to the envelope.

'Something Lucas gave me but I can only open it on Friday.' Brooke shook her head. 'I don't suppose you know what it is?' Haley laughed.

'I don't,' she then held up her hand, 'and I won't be questioning Lucas to find out for you, you will just have to wait till Friday.' Haley added in knowing Brooke was going to ask her to find out what was in the envelope. Brooke huffed.

'What is it with you two?!' Brooke exclaimed she then turned her attention on Haley. 'Did I see you talking to Nathan just now?' Haley took a moment to respond.

'Yeah, just small talk.' Haley lied. Brooke raised her one eyebrow.

'That's odd,' Brooke paused and looked at Haley intently. 'You two hardly ever talk.'

'He was just being polite,' Haley lied once more. 'We do have a lot of friends in common.' Brooke huffed.

'Haley, it looked intense! What's going on?' She then pointed to Haley's cheek. 'And when you lie your cheek twitches sometimes! And its twitching.' Haley scrunched her eyebrows and then laughed.

'It does not! And seriously nothing is going on.' Brooke considered Haley and then started to notice the other girls gathering for practice.

'Whatever, I will find out what's going on. I always do.' Brooke stated and flashed Haley a smile before walking over to the other girls. Haley groaned the last thing she needed was a suspicious Brooke and an angry Nathan wanting answers. How had this all happened? She just wanted things to go back to normal. She sighed and walked over to the other cheer leaders she figured just going with the normal motions would eventually settle things down. As Haley began to stretch she couldn't shake the feeling, however, that things were still going to get messier and that she was far away from normal.

* * *

**A/N: Review please. Expect another update next week, probably towards the end of the week again.**


	5. Oh the Weekend

**A/N: Ok first off thank you for the reviews. Please keep them up. Then because I didn't update last week, I have a mini gift for all of you who are reading the story. I will be posting Chapter 6 for you tomorrow. I must say from here on out things are going to get a lot more exciting. Then for the first scene, if any of you are interested I would suggest listening to the song earthquake by Labrinth ft Tinie Tempah. I wrote the that scene while listening to the song and I don't know it just adds something to it. **

**Happy reading! Please review!**

**Chapter 5: Oh the Weekend**

**Friday**

Haley quickly walked into the court and immediately removed her jacket and threw it to the side. She ran a hand through her hair. She was soaked from head to toe. She was making her way over to practice when it had suddenly started raining. Within seconds she had been soaked. She wrapped her arms around her, she was freezing. She looked at her arms the bruises were finally fading and she had been able to cover them up with makeup. She needed to touch that up though now that she had been rained on. She was thankful she had brought her base with her and looked to where her bag lay next to her soaking jacket. She looked around, there didn't seem to be anybody there yet. However, the boys were likely finishing up from practice, which gave her an idea. She walked over to the locker room and could hear boys in there. She stood at the door and took a deep breath.

'Luke!' she yelled out from the door. She sure as hell wasn't walking into the locker room. She paused and waited for a response. Nothing. 'Luke, Luke, Lucas!' She yelled out increasing her voice. A minute later one of the boys emerged from the locker room. Except it wasn't Lucas. Nathan raised his eyebrows when he saw Haley. She was standing there with one hand against the door and the other holding her hip. Nathan immediately noticed the wet state she was in and how her clothing was clinging to her.

'Why is it that whenever I need Luke these days you show up?' Haley questioned, breaking the silence.

'Nice to see you too,' Nathan replied and smirked. 'This is a good look for you.' Nathan said cheekily and motioned up and down her body with his one hand. This time Haley raised her eyebrows at him.

'Is Luke there?' She asked ignoring the snarky comment, which she didn't realize wasn't so snarky. Nathan sure as hell did think it was a good look for her. He shook his head.

'No, he rushed out, had to organize stuff for his big thing with Brooke tonight,' Nathan said and then groaned. He still wasn't comfortable with the idea of Brooke and Luke. Haley nodded, she should have realized, this whole week Lucas had been working on tonight. Brooke was giddy with excitement.

'Damn, I was hoping to steal a top from him,' she paused. 'He normally always has an extra one in the locker room.' Nathan nodded.

'Wait here,' he said and then turned around. Haley shifted her position and a moment later Nathan returned. She ran a hand through her hair as he held out a t-shirt for her. 'Lucas isn't the only one who keeps spares.' Nathan said. Haley took it from him.

'Thank you! I am so cold,' she then looked behind him. While the boys had a locker room the girls didn't. Something Brooke voiced her disdain about constantly to the boy's basket ball coach. Haley knew she was going to have to quickly change her top out here. 'Can you stand watch for a minute?' she asked Nathan and didn't wait for him to respond. It took him a moment to realize what Haley was asking him, however, when she turned around and moved to take her top off Nathan immediately knew. He hesitated for a second and then turned around, ensuring no other guy was about to walk out there. Haley slipped his t-shirt on and immediately felt less cold and wet. She knew the shirt would obviously be too big for her, so she knotted it up behind her, making the shirt reveal some skin but hey that was a lot better than practicing in a wet top. She turned around to Nathan who was still facing the other way and guarding the door.

'Thank you,' she said and he turned around. He nodded not sure quite what to say. He was finding it very hard not to concentrate on her wet hair and how the way she tied his shirt, had revealed a tiny bit of her stomach. 'I'm just going to go stretch.' Haley added and turned around to leave. Nathan suppressed a groan when her saw her back, and how the pants she was wearing seemed to cling to every single curve. He shook his head. These thoughts were not ok. Not ok, at all. He had never thought of Haley like this before. Additionally, whenever he saw her he still wanted to protect her and this had been their first interaction since their little argument about her visiting the police and not pressing charges. He actually should have asked her about that again. His eyes trailed over to her and he saw her applying something to her arms, a moment later Brooke joined her.

* * *

Haley had just finished covering up the bruises when Brooke appeared she placed her umbrella to the side and grinned at Haley.

'Clearly, someone didn't think ahead,' Brooke commented and motioned to her umbrella. Haley opened her mouth to respond when Brooke continued. 'Why is Baby Scott staring at you so intently?' Brooke asked.

'What?' Haley shot out and turned around, sure enough Nathan was looking over at them. 'His probably staring at you, Brooke.' Haley added in and then began to stretch. 'Maybe he wants to talk to you?' Brooke eyed Haley suspiciously.

'Sure, let me head over there and have a chat,' she paused and grinned at Haley, 'While I'm there I'll be sure to ask him why you are in his shirt.' Brooke winked at Haley and she groaned.

'He lent it to me because my top was soaked,' Haley supplied as Brooke began walking away. She shook her head and watched her walk over to Nathan.

'See something you like?' Brooke asked when she reached Nathan.

'Yeah, you,' he said and then pulled her into a hug. 'Are you looking forward to tonight?' Nathan asked Brooke knowing it would distract her from wherever she was going with her previous statement. She practically jumped up and down.

'You have no idea,' she said and grinned widely. 'And don't think that I don't realize that you are trying to distract to me,' she added and crossed her arms.

'Now why would I be doing that?' Nathan asked innocently.

'Last week I saw you and Haley having what looked like a pretty intense conversation and today I find you staring at her like you want to see her naked,' Brooke bluntly said. 'What is going on with you two?' Nathan shook his head and managed an easy going smile.

'Brooke, you are reading into things that aren't there. There is nothing going on with us,' he paused and shrugged, 'I barely know her.'

'Yet, you were nice enough to lend her your shirt,' Brooke commented and watched a very interesting emotion spring across Nathan's face.

'Would you prefer she froze? She wanted one from Luke but he wasn't here.' Again he mentioned Luke in attempt to end this conversation. He had still considered telling Brooke what had happened to Haley, but with all the time that had passed he figured it was best to just leave that up to Haley. Brooke eyed him.

'I will figure out what is going on,' Brooke said echoing words she had spoken to Haley a few days back. They then said their goodbyes and Brooke walked back to Haley to join her in stretching.

* * *

Brooke stood with her arms crossed and watched her clock intently. Haley was lying on her bed paging through a magazine. In another minute she was allowed to finally open Lucas's envelope. Haley had been recruited to make sure she didn't cheat. After practice had ended Haley had gone back to her place, showered changed and then made her way over to Brooke's. They then began waiting till they could open the envelope. Haley looked up when Brooke squealed. She ripped the envelope open. Haley watched as her expression turned wide eyed.

'I'm going to kill him!' Brooke exclaimed. Haley sat up.

'Why?' she moved off the bed and went to read the note in the envelope. She gave a small chuckle of understanding once she had read it. Lucas had given Brooke ten minutes to get ready before he showed up.

'Ten minutes?!' Brooke exclaimed.

'Nine now,' Haley added in and watched as Brooke scowled at her.

'Not helping! He didn't even say how I needed to dress? Casual? No dresses? What?' Brooke was not impressed. She went to her closet.

'Go for jeans and a pretty top,' Haley supplied and paged through the magazine again. 'It's a safe bet.'

'Ok which one, Haley?' Brooke asked and held out two tops for her one blue and one black.

'Go with the blue,' Haley said and sat up. 'And your black jeans.' Brooke nodded and quickly changed.

'What shoes?!' she exclaimed a minute later, Haley came and stood next to her and looked down at her extensive shoe collection.

'Flats,' Haley said and picked out silver sandals. Which Brooke approved and began putting on.

'When did you become so useful?' Brooke asked.

'Hey!' Haley exclaimed and lightly smacked her. Brooke laughed and quickly managed to brush her hair, a moment later they heard knocking at the door.

'Ready?' Lucas asked when Brooke opened the door. He had the biggest grin on his face.

'If I say no will it make a difference?' Brooke asked back.

'No,' Lucas laughed and held out a red hat for Brooke. 'You will be needing this.' He said and put it on her while taking her hand. He smiled at Haley who was standing behind Brooke.

'Have fun!' She said and watched as Lucas led Brooke away.

* * *

Brooke tilted her head and stared at Lucas incredulously.

'What do you mean you are leaving me here?' Brooke asked and watched as Lucas smiled at her.

'It's a game, follow the clues and come find me, if you want.' Lucas said and motioned to the new envelope he had just given her. 'And remember don't take the hat off.' Lucas gave her a big smile and began walking away.

'Lucas!' Brooke exclaimed after him and he merely just waved at her. She watched him leave and then took a minute to consider things. She hadn't quite decided if she was going to participate in the game and find Lucas. She figured opening the envelope wouldn't hurt though. She read the first clue. It was easy enough, she sighed, who was she kidding? She wanted to see what Lucas had planned out and she wanted to find him. She began making her way to the on campus book store.

* * *

Haley checked her phone, no calls from Brooke or Lucas that meant things were going well. They had both said if they needed an out they would be calling her. It was still fairly early in the evening though. She took a step forward in the line and waited patiently as the few people in front of her moved on and placed their orders. She reached the counter and ordered mint chocolate chip ice cream in a cup. A few minutes later, she began walking over to a table, when she walked straight into something fairly hard. She looked up and straight at Nathan. She sighed. Second time today she was having an encounter with him. She shifted uncomfortably.

'Sorry, I wasn't paying attention,' she mumbled out. He looked down at her and smiled.

'No problem.' Nathan replied, she nodded and moved away. He watched her take a seat at a table. He placed his order for a cup of coffee and once he got it, he found himself walking over to her table and sitting down before he could actually comprehend what he was doing. Haley was a surprised when Nathan sat down. She looked at him and noticed that she had raised her spoon but hadn't actually eaten the ice cream on it she quickly put the spoon down.

'Uh Nathan?' she asked slowly and looked over at him.

'I would have thought after being soaked from the rain today you would have ordered something warmer,' Nathan said in response and took a sip of his coffee. Haley shrugged.

'Ice cream is better in the cold,' she said and ate a spoon of her ice cream. It wasn't exactly cold but the rain had left a bit of a chill in the air. Nathan laughed and surprisingly it made Haley chuckle. Silence fell and they merely just stared at each other. Haley finally looked away, spurring Nathan into asking what he wanted to know for a few days now.

'How are you?' Nathan asked and the way he said, Haley knew he didn't mean in a general how- is university- going-kind-of way. He wanted to know how she was since the party and Drew. Haley shrugged.

'I'm ok,' she paused and ate a bit more ice cream, buying her sometime to think of an answer that would appease Nathan. 'Nothing to report.' She finally said.

'Except Drew,' Nathan countered and Haley immediately regretted her choice of words. He hadn't meant for it to sound as harsh as it did, but he noticed Haley flinch at the words.

'Nathan, can we please let that go?' she shot back.

'I don't really have a choice do I, Hales?' He hadn't realized it until now but her not pressing charges against Drew still really bothered him.

'No, you don't,' Haley said firmly and crossed her arms. 'Nathan, I don't actually want to talk about this. And you don't have a responsibility to check up on me.'

'I-' Nathan cut himself off, he was about to say he wanted to check up on her but thought better of it. They weren't close and she was right he didn't have a responsibility to check up on her. And he probably just had a bit of residual protectiveness towards her from the other night. He would get over it. He was sure of it. 'What are you doing this weekend?' he abruptly changed the topic.

'I have work to do tonight and then a party tomorrow and then practice and stuff on Sunday,' Haley rambled out accepting the change in topic. 'You?' Haley added in a second later. This really was a weird encounter they were having.

'A party?' Nathan ignored her question and asked one of his own.

'Yeah, another house party, Brooke's friend this time, I'm surprised she didn't tell you?' Haley added the last part as a question.

'She did,' Nathan trailed off vaguely remembering the conversation. 'I just have so many assignments due she assumed I wasn't going to come. Heard nothing about it after that conversation.'

'Well, if you have work to do that would make sense,' Haley paused Nathan was watching her intently, concern was etched across his features. She sighed. 'I'll be fine at this party.' She added in.

'What? I didn't say anything,' Nathan replied and shrugged.

'Your expression said it all,' Haley countered.

'You really don't think you should wait a bit longer before going to another party?' Nathan finally blurted out.

'No, Nathan, I don't.' She sighed again, what was going on with their conversations? They were calm and then oddly antagonistic.

'Well, I should get back, oh and thank you for your shirt I'll get it back to you soon.' Haley said and stood up. 'See you around, Nathan.'

'Yeah, Hales,' Nathan stood up too and held her gaze. Haley shifted under the intensity of his stare and oddly from him calling her Hales. 'Maybe I will stop by that party for a bit.' Haley didn't know what to make of that or why the way he was still staring at her made goose bumps rise all over her skin. She finally gave a small nod and turned and left. Attempting to forget this strange encounter.

* * *

**A/N: Please review!**


	6. Shaken to the Core

**A/N: As promised Chapter 6. The reviews are kind of decreasing every chapter so I have to ask... are people not liking the story? Am I missing an element? :/ Because if so, I can just stop posting. **

**Anyway thank you to everyone who did review!**

**I hope you enjoy it. **

**Chapter 6: Shaken to the core**

Brooke laughed, she couldn't believe it. Every clue had led her to some store where some sales assistant would come over to her and hand her something. She had just found Lucas and looked around her. They were at some park where Lucas had set up a blanket and quite a few candles. Brooke's hands were full and Lucas immediately walked over to her and took some items away from her.

'What was this?' Brooke asked and stepped forward with Lucas. She then began to put things down on the blanket.

'Well, when I asked you out last week you said maybe. This way you brought the date to me so technically-'

'I took us on a date?' Brooke finished Luke's sentenced and laughed.

'Exactly, you can't say no to a date you helped construct,' Luke winked at her. Brooke shook her head but could feel her smile growing. She sat down and looked at all the items she had been sent to collect a book, alcohol (which she was allowed to pick), a picnic basket and various kinds of desserts.

'Well played, Scott.'

'Thank you,' he said and sat down. 'Oh wait,' he suddenly said and stood up, 'I will be back in a few seconds.' He quickly went away and a moment later returned with a bunch of flowers. White and blue daisies, he handed them over to Brooke. 'Couldn't have you picking out your own flowers.' Brooke shook her head and took the flowers, she was beyond impressed.

'What have I gotten myself into?' Brooke said and Lucas finally sat down next to her.

'Something amazing,' Lucas replied and began to take out the food from the picnic basket.

'Oh so modest there, Luke.' Brooke laughed and took the plastic plate Lucas was offering her. 'What's with the book?' she asked him a moment later.

'Just something for you to read, you should like it.' Brooke didn't question him further rather she turned and looked at the food he had organized. He had everything in that basket from salads, to burgers for the main course, little snacks and non alcoholic beverages. Brooke took a bottle of water and then opened the bottle of wine she had picked out. She poured some for her and Luke and they then began eating. The whole time conversation flowed and was easy, no awkward pauses and what's more Brooke was really having a good time. She wasn't sure how much time had passed but it must have been awhile, they had finished eating including the desserts, drank the wine and had spent an incredible amount of time just joking around. They were now lying down looking up at the stars when Lucas turned to look at Brooke.

'It's getting cold,' he said he could feel Brooke shivering even though she was in his jacket. 'We should go.' Brooke nodded but before they made any moves she shifted so that she was looking at him. Without a moments hesitation Lucas pulled her into a kiss, she immediately responded and pressed her body up against his. His one hand went to hair while the other pulled her closer. Brooke's body was on fire, she hadn't felt this way with a boy well… ever. Every nerve was on high alert and she didn't want to stop kissing him. She did though, a few seconds later she pulled away and rested her foreheads on his. She took a deep breath and then smiled at him. She needed some perspective before she got completely lost in Luke. She didn't want to rush things with him and she worried that if they carried on kissing things were going to escalate, partly because she didn't quite believe she had enough resolve to pull back a second time. Not with the way her body had reacted to Luke, she had been shaken by that kiss to her core. Everything had responded to him, her emotions, her thoughts, the way it felt to be kissing him. She took another deep breath and then sat up.

'Thank you for tonight,' Brooke said to him. Luke sat up too and kissed the top of her head.

'It was honestly a pleasure.' He quickly packed up and they then made their way back to campus. The park they were at wasn't far from campus. When they reached it Lucas walked Brooke all the way to her dorm room. She gave him a small peck on the lips as a goodnight kiss and headed inside. Once inside she gave a small laugh of happiness. She looked at the time it was almost 3 in the morning. She felt so happy that she wasn't sure she was going to be able to fall asleep. What was better was that tomorrow night she would be seeing him again at that party. She honestly couldn't wait.

* * *

'Haley James! Open this door!' Brooke exclaimed and carried on knocking. A few seconds later a very grumpy Haley opened her room door.

'It's early, Brooke.' Haley stated and moved aside.

'What? You're always up early.' Brooke countered and moved to Haley's kitchen. She began to make them coffee.

'Not today, Brooke.' Haley sat down at a stool she had.

'You will get over it, Haley,' Brooke grinned at her and placed a cup of coffee in front of her. Haley looked at her friend, she was beaming. She sighed and took a sip of the coffee. She knew she was bursting to tell her about her night with Lucas.

'Ok, spill, how was last night?' Brooke's smile grew even more.

'It was incredible!' and with that she began to recap every detail of her date with Lucas.

* * *

Nathan stopped running and took a sip of his water, Lucas followed suit. They had just had a jog. They both began stretching to cool down. A few minutes later they were walking back to campus.

'So how did it go with Brooke last night?' Nathan reluctantly asked Lucas, it was something he didn't want to know but really wanted to know at the same time. After all if Luke was about to screw things up with her he wanted it stop nice and early before she got seriously hurt.

'Great!' Luke exclaimed and took a sip of his water. 'She loved it.' Nathan nodded. 'I can't wait to see her tonight.'

'I'm glad,' Nathan commented. 'Is everyone going tonight?'

'As far as I know,' he paused and looked at Nathan. 'Are you asking about someone specifically?'

'Nope,' Nathan blurted out quickly. Truthfully he was hoping Haley had changed her mind. He was relieved they would all be there though. He figured she would just stick with them this time. 'Just debating whether it's worth pulling through to the party.' Lucas looked at Nathan and smiled.

'Well if you do, don't count on seeing a lot of Brooke, I plan on keeping her busy.' Nathan raised an eyebrow at Lucas and Lucas laughed. 'With dancing etc not the way you were thinking…yet.' Lucas said and watched as Nathan's face grew serious very quickly. Lucas laughed. 'Relax, Nathan. I really like her.' Nathan said no more and neither did Lucas. His conversation with Lucas had made him more uneasy about Haley at this party tonight. If Lucas and Brooke were going to disappear again there was a chance Haley would wander around again. He stopped his thoughts before they ran away with him she would just stick with Peyton and Jake though. He inwardly gave himself a nod, yes, she would stay with Peyton and Jake. She would be fine, nothing was going to happen. He didn't need to be at the party.

* * *

**That night: 8:00 PM**

Haley sighed she wasn't surprised that she wasn't overly thrilled at the idea of this party, what did surprise her was how nervous she was feeling. She slipped on her pair of black heels and looked at herself. Jeans, pretty green top and black heels. Pretty enough for the party but wasn't going to draw attention to her. Unlike the black dress Brooke was wearing which wrapped around her neck and had a very low v-neck. They were meeting up with Lucas, Peyton and Jake in a few minutes. Brooke and Haley began walking downstairs to their friends.

'You ok?' Brooke asked Haley when they reached the bottom of the stairs. 'You've been kind of quiet.' Haley gave her friend a small smile.

'Just a bit tired.' Haley replied and gave Brooke a playful nudge. Brooke laughed and dropped the topic. A minute later they had reached their friends. Immediately Brooke went up to Lucas who took her hand and they began walking ahead of everyone. The party was in walking distance from Campus so no one needed to drive tonight. Haley joined Peyton and Jake. Once they had greeted each other, they immediately fell silent. A few minutes later Jake walked ahead of Haley and Peyton.

'What is going on with you two?' Haley softly asked Peyton. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

'We're in the middle of a fight,' Peyton said and Haley could hear the tension in her voice. 'We will sort it out, Jake just refuses to talk about it currently.' Haley nodded and gave her friend a small hug. They continued walking on in silence. As they got closer to the party Haley got more nervous. When they reached it, she took a deep breath, calmed herself as much as she could have and entered the party with a smile.

* * *

Nathan looked at the time it was only 10:30 PM. He'd actually made a lot of progress with his assignment. He sat back and looked at his phone. No calls or messages. He fidgeted a bit, he wanted to know what was going on with the party. He picked up his phone and before he knew what he was doing he called Lucas.

'What's up, Nathan?' Lucas asked three rings into it.

'I was thinking of pulling through to the party, I wanted to see how it was going?'

'Pull through everyone is having a good time,' Lucas responded.

'Oh?' Nathan questioned. 'So you didn't drag Brooke away from the rest of your friends?'

'No, I did, but I'd wager a pretty good guess that everyone is having a good time.' Nathan suddenly froze. He wasn't so sure about that. 'When last did you see Haley?' Nathan asked before he could stop himself. Lucas was silent for a few moments.

'Earlier this evening, she was with Jake and Peyton.' Lucas finally responded. 'Why?'

'No reason.' Nathan mumbled out. 'Maybe see you in a bit.' Nathan said and ended the call before Lucas could question him more. He sure as hell did not think Haley was having as a good a time as everyone else. Before the incident with Drew, Nathan had noted how Haley didn't really seem to enjoy house parties that much, which was part of the reason why they hardly interacted back then. He hardly thought her enjoyment at them had increased now after Drew. He walked to his room and went through his phone book he didn't actually have Haley's number. That seemed to be the deciding factor, if he couldn't call her he was going to go check up on her. After all another hour tomorrow and his assignment would be done and taking a break from his work wasn't a bad idea either. He pulled off his top and went and put on his black collared shirt. He was out of his door in about ten minutes.

* * *

Haley sighed and sat down on the couch. About an hour into the party Brooke and Lucas had disappeared. Haley didn't blame them they were extremely enthralled with each other and watching them flirt was a bit painful. She had stayed with Peyton and Jake but the second hour into the party they had started fighting quite badly and had gone off to find some privacy. They hadn't returned since then and it had been a good 40 minutes. Haley normally would have just gone off and struck up a conversation with someone, however she really didn't feel like doing that tonight. She finally found the couch and sat down but not before getting herself a drink. She took a sip of it and looked at her phone. Almost 11:00. She was actually contemplating leaving but really didn't want to walk back by herself. She hated feeling this nervous. She sighed, she would call Brooke in a bit. She was about half way through her drink when some guy came and sat down next to her.

'So…' the guy began. Haley looked at him.

'Not interested,' she immediately said and took a sip of her drink. The guy looked like he was about to say something when they were both interrupted.

'Haley!' A voice said and they both looked up, Nathan was standing in front of them. When he had entered the party he immediately began looking for her, Peyton and Jake. He had steadily grown more frustrated when he couldn't see them. He knew what Jake and Peyton were like parties, they would be sitting somewhere socializing and if he couldn't find them, there was a good chance Haley wasn't with them anymore. Finally he saw Haley sitting on a couch with a plastic cup in her hand, he had been relieved but then he noticed some guy next to her and the uncomfortable look on her face. He immediately went over to her.

'Hi Nathan,' Haley said uncertainly.

'What are you doing?' He asked her and folded his arms.

'Sitting,' she said and paused, 'and drinking.' She added a moment later and took a sip of her drink.

'Move,' Nathan harshly said to the guy who was still sitting next to her. He didn't argue and simply got up and left. Nathan took his spot and looked at Haley.

'Why aren't you with the others?' Haley considered him in more detail than she thought was necessary. The black shirt he was wearing, with his sleeves rolled up showed how perfectly defined he was. Haley stopped her thoughts and immediately began answering his questions.

'I have no idea where Brooke and Lucas are and to be honest, they aren't really paying attention to anyone but each other, and Peyton and Jake are off fighting somewhere.' Haley explained and took another sip of her drink.

'So you thought drinking and talking to guys you don't know was a good idea?' Nathan stated and placed his hands on his knees.

'Hey! I wasn't talking to him he just sat down and it's not like I'm drunk. This is my first alcoholic drink.' Haley huffed. Why the hell was she defending her actions to Nathan? 'What is your problem anyway?' she asked him angrily. Nathan scoffed.

'Really, Hales? You want to know why I have problem with you chatting to strange guys at a party-'

'Nathan, I don't need a baby sitter, I'm a big girl.' He considered her and sighed in frustration. They were just going to keep arguing if they kept talking about this.

'Give me your phone,' he stated a minute later after he had calmed down.

'Why?' Haley asked and didn't move to give him her phone.

'Can you just do it, Hales?'

'Fine.' She relented and gave him her phone. She watched as Nathan typed a number into it. He saved the number and then called it. After that he handed the phone back to Haley.

'Now you have my number,' he took out his phone. 'And I have yours.' He looked over at Haley who was looking at him exasperatedly. 'Don't give me that look. If something happens again you need someone who you can contact.' She was about to argue when Nathan stopped her. He grabbed her hand.

'Come on, I want a drink.' He pulled her up with him.

'Nathan!' she exclaimed but he gave her one look and she just nodded.

'Fine, but you can't do this the whole night,' she said to him while they walked to get him a drink.

'Do what?'

'Watch over me. Go flirt with girls or something.' Nathan scoffed. He really wasn't interested in hooking up right now.

'Listen, it's your first party since the incident,' he took a plastic cup and filled it with some beer. 'Considering I was the one who found you, I figure I get to have some say in what you do at this party.' Haley looked at him and stayed silent. You could clearly see the tension between them. She didn't argue though, she just finished off her drink and then filled her cup with a non alcoholic beverage.

* * *

Lucas leaned down and kissed Brooke he then pulled her a bit closer. A few moments later they broke apart, they had been at the designated dance floor for the party. Brooke smiled at him.

'Come on let's go outside for a bit.' Brooke said and took a hold of Luke's hand and walked outside with him. As soon as they were away from the party Brooke pulled him into another kiss. This one went on for a much longer time. Their hands had roamed each other bodies and they didn't break the kiss at all. It was only when air became an issue that it stopped. When they broke apart Lucas wrapped his arms around Brooke.

'So Brooke, tell me something I don't know about you?' Lucas said and watched as a smile spread across her face. Before she could respond however, he leaned down and gave her another small kiss. 'You are beautiful.' He added in. The two stayed outside for a bit, talking and having fun.

* * *

Haley took a sip of her drink and had to suppress a laugh. She watched Nathan extract himself from some girl and return to her.

'Does that happen to you a lot?' She asked him and motioned to the girl. She had literally thrown herself at him. She had actually stopped him while he was walking and wouldn't let go of him. Nathan groaned.

'They aren't always quite that intense,' he responded and looked at Haley. She looked pretty tonight and she had been smiling for a bit which just made her look even prettier. There was still a lot of tension between them but they were having a fairly decent time. He found, when they weren't arguing, that they could actually get along. He watched as suddenly her smile increased and she began bobbing her head to the music. She clearly liked the song that had just come on. Nathan stepped forward and took her cup from her and put it down on a table with his.

'Come on,' he said and took her to the dance floor. She titled her head at him.

'Does Nathan Scott dance?' she asked curiously. He merely smiled at her and spun her around. Haley didn't need any more encouragement. She loved this song and began dancing to the beat. She was however surprised when Nathan hadn't let her go.

Nathan didn't know what he was thinking, but when he saw her smile, he knew bringing her to dance was the right move. Dancing with her and touching her surprised him though. When he spun her he had every intention of letting her go after wards but he didn't want to, he liked how it felt. So he merely just began dancing with her, not letting her go. She had placed her one hand on his chest and he watched as she lost herself in the song. He found it easy to move along with her to the music.

Haley didn't over think the current situation, it was fun dancing with him and she was really enjoying herself and well Nathan. The song was nearing its end, and Nathan spun her once more. She smiled up at him. She then felt his hands move to her waist and a second later they moved from her waist and ran down her arms. She kept dancing but the feel of him running his hands down her arms had sent shivers throughout her body.

Nathan didn't know what had come over him but without thinking he took a hold of her waist and then he just wanted to feel her skin, so he ran his hands down her arms... slowly. He loved how soft her skin felt and when he looked back at her she just seemed so pretty in that moment. He moved a tiny bit closer to her. She placed her one hand back on his chest and he ran his hand over that arm again. Starting from her shoulder and moving slowly down. What was happening here? Nathan couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. He didn't get a chance to delve deeper into it, one because the song ended and two when it had they just stood there looking at each other. And then Haley's phone rang. She took it out and stepped back from him breaking their contact.

'Brooke? Yeah ok. See you now.' Nathan heard her say and then she ended the phone call. She looked over at him, the way she had just felt dancing with Nathan she couldn't shake it. It had shaken her to her core, in a good way, every small touch of his had sent shivers throughout her body. She didn't know why she was reacting like this to him. She noticed him giving her a curious look and she finally broke the silence.

'Brooke and Lucas are thinking of leaving, they want me to meet them at the front.' She said and he nodded. She turned to leave when Nathan stopped her. He placed a hand on her arm and she turned around.

'Hales, let me know when you are back at your dorm room safely, ok?' She nodded. Truthfully she wanted to stay and dance with him more but that was crazy. She should just leave him be so he could actually enjoy the party how he wanted to. Also his protective side was out again and it tended to lead them into arguments.

'Thanks, Nathan, I will.' She said and he let her go. Nathan watched her walk away and felt a bit disappointed. He considered walking with her to see Brooke and Lucas but he needed to clear his head. Things seemed to have gotten a bit intense with them during that song and he didn't understand it. So he decided to just write it off as a side effect of the song playing.

* * *

Haley found her friends and after they gotten a hold of Peyton and Jake, who had apparently left the party ages ago, they walked back to campus. Haley was quiet the whole way. She was processing the nights events, not quite sure what to make of them. On campus she left Brooke and Lucas and made her way to her dorm room. She opened it, went inside and went straight to her bed. She took a deep breath and cleared her head. It was nothing, it was a fluke the way she felt while dancing with Nathan. It was probably because there was so much tension between them. She then remembered him asking her to let him know when she was back. She took out her phone and found his number that he had added in, she sent him a quick text message: "Back safe." It said. She then immediately got ready for bed, trying to ignore the thoughts racing through her head.

* * *

**A/N: Please review! I know in the show Nathan can't really dance but hey here he can!**


	7. Athletic Broken Type of Boy

**A/N: I'm sorry I have been bad and haven't updated in a long time. On the plus side I will have another update for you guys by Friday or Saturday. Thank you for all the reviews! Please keep reviewing. **

**There is one part in this chapter where Haley thinks about what Brooke said about Nathan, that specific scene is actually in Chapter 1 in case any of you want to go back to it. **

**I hope you enjoy it! Please review. **

**Chapter 7: ****Athletic Broken Type of Boy**

Haley sighed happily, it was a week and a half later from the party and nothing weird had happened since. In actual fact life seemed to be getting back to normal. No dangerous encounters, no awkward moments and no more questions from Brooke. She was going through the motions with university like she was used to. She was on her way to her last lecture for the day and then after that she had some free time before she had to be at cheer leading practice. She entered her venue and went to take a seat. She was busy rummaging through her bag for a pen when Lucas sat down next to her.

'Hey Lucas,' she said happily. Lectures were a rare time these days, when she could see Lucas alone. Every other moment he was always with Brooke. The two were happy, to the point where you had to limit how much time you could spend around them.

'Hey,' he grinned back. 'How boring do you think today's lecture is going to be?' he asked her seriously and checked his phone.

'Scale of one to ten,' Haley began and sighed, 'With one being not boring at all…probably a twelve.' Lucas groaned, him and Haley had taken a marketing class as filler, while the subject itself wasn't bad the lecturer had a voice and teaching style that could put you to sleep within five minutes. Lucas settled into his chair.

'Maybe I should go meet Brooke rather,' he said and Haley laughed.

'That I'm sure would be more interesting,' Haley said and then turned to face him seriously. 'But probably won't help you pass the class.'

'Thank you, Haley,' Lucas said grumpily and folded his arms.

'What? It's true,' she gave a small chuckle again. 'I take it things between the two of you are going well?' she asked him a moment later. He turned to her.

'Very,' he grinned at Haley. 'What does she say about me?' Haley's eye brows rose and her smile widened.

'Girls code, Lucas, I can't tell you that.' Haley stated in a joking manner.

'Oh come on!'

'All good things, I swear,' Haley said and then laughed again. Lucas was about to press her for more details when the lecturer entered the venue. Haley couldn't stop smiling all she could think about was how normal and good things were these days. Besides her best friends dating, it was like nothing odd had happened these past few weeks at all.

* * *

Haley took the last sip of her water and threw the bottle away. After her lecture with Luke had ended they had gone their separate ways. He was off to basketball practice and Haley had gone off to find a book from the library and change for cheer leading practice. She was busy walking to the gym now, she knew she was going to be a bit early but that didn't bother her. The boys would be done with practice already so she could just spend some quiet time alone. Maybe read a bit of the book she had in her bag. She arrived at the gym and pushed open the door. As soon as she entered she froze. There was yelling going on in the gym she looked across the room and spotted Nathan and his dad, Dan. Nathan looked frustrated and had his hands clenched into fists at his side. The two were awfully close and the tension between them was apparent. She inwardly groaned. To say she disliked Dan was an understatement, he was also Lucas's Dad and all he ever did was make his life hell and she had been there to see it all. Lucas had managed to firmly isolate Dan from his life in all ways, so these days Haley didn't really experience much of Dan's ability to make everything well shit. She was about to turn around and leave when Dan stormed to the door on the opposite side of the court opened it, walked out and then let it slam shut. She watched as Nathan ran a hand through his hair and then punch the nearest wall not once but twice.

'Nathan!'Haley exclaimed loudly before she realised she had even said it. He turned around and stared at her from across the room. The anger on his face was apparent. Haley shifted for a second awkwardly and then began walking over to him. 'What are you doing?!' she exclaimed when she reached him and took a hold of his hand. It was bleeding quite badly.

'I'm fine, Hales.' Nathan said firmly and she stared up at him. She almost laughed, he was anything but fine.

'Come on,' she said and dragged him over to a bench. She motioned for him to sit down. 'I'll be back in a second.' Haley quickly left and went into the boys locker room, she knew where their coach kept a first aid kit. She found it quickly and went back to Nathan, who she was kind of surprised to see was still sitting there. She figured he might have taken the opportunity to leave, she sat down and straddled the bench, placing the first aid kit in front of her. Nathan followed suit and readjusted his position so that he was facing her. He stared at Haley and could clearly see the concern on her face. What he didn't know was whether it was for him or just his hand? He watched as Haley opened the kit and took out some cotton and disinfectant. She put some disinfectant on the cotton and then looked at Nathan. He put his arm out for her and she gently took a hold of his hand.

'This is probably going to sting,' she said seriously and then began cleaning it. Nathan didn't make a sound though. She spent a good five minutes getting his hand all cleaned up all the while neither of them said anything. When she finally looked back up she noted how he seemed to have calmed down a bit.

'What was all that about?' she asked him softly. She heard him exhale in frustration.

'My dad,' he finally said and there was an edge to his voice. 'You wouldn't understand.' He added in and then after another frustrated sigh he asked, 'are you almost done?' Haley paused and looked up at him and considered him for a moment.

'Yes,' she said firmly and suppressed the little part of her that wanted to snap at him. She unrolled some bandage and began wrapping Nathan's hand. Then she scoffed, something which Nathan noticed.

'What?' he asked her suddenly. She didn't look up at him but gently kept bandaging his hand.

'I do understand,' she began. She was almost done with his hand but she paused for a second though and looked at Nathan. 'I was there when Lucas dealt with Dan. I saw the effects. I've seen Luke punch things because of him. I helped him through it all.' She said in a matter of fact way and held his gaze for a few more seconds. She then returned to his hand and put some tape on the bandage to keep it in place. 'All done but you need to go put on ice it immediately to stop the swelling.' She said and she watched as Nathan seemed for the first time to actually notice his hand. After a few more seconds she finally let his hand go, she didn't know why she was still holding it after it was all wrapped up. He gingerly took a hold of it with his other hand and stared down at it. In the back of his mind he was vaguely aware of the thought that he liked Haley holding his hand.

'Thanks,' he said and finally looked back at Haley. She nodded. The funny thing was that neither of them moved yet. 'I never thought of that,' he said after a few moments of silence.

'What?' Haley asked while packing up the first aid kit.

'That Lucas would have dealt with Dan too,' he paused and caught hold of her gaze. 'And that you would have seen it all.' Haley shrugged.

'It's hard to consider outside situations, when you have your own to deal with,' Haley said calmly. 'I do know one thing though,' she added and pointed to Nathan's hand, 'talking about it is a better way of dealing with Dan than punching a wall. Something Luke had to have pointed out to him too.' This she said firmly and watched as Nathan considered her with an expression she couldn't quite discern.

'I'm not one for words,' Nathan replied and shifted a bit. He was surprised when Haley laughed, she then smiled at him.

'I'm sure that personality trait comes in handy with the girls,' she winked at him and laughed again. Nathan shook his head and she could vaguely see a small smile come across his face. 'You know Brooke was right about you,' Nathan tilted his head.

'What do you mean?' Haley just smiled at him and thought back to a conversation where she asked Brooke why she was interested in Lucas and not Nathan. She had mentioned how she preferred the artistic- broody- kind -of –boy meaning Lucas as opposed to the athletic- broken- type- of boy which she classified Nathan as. She hadn't really understood what Brooke had meant by it then but staring at Nathan now she could clearly the see the athletic-broken-type of boy his Dad seem to bring out in him. Something you would never guess from afar while watching his happy outgoing nature. She figured telling him this probably wasn't the best idea.

'Just something she said,' she paused and looked at him seriously. 'Speaking of Brooke she would probably be a good person to tell these things too. She's been your friend for years, she has your back.' Nathan considered this and he knew Haley was right. Brooke had had his back for years. Throughout high school she would always be there if he needed it. Although their friendship involved a lot of partying, drinking and having fun the girl had a solid heart and messed up family. Something they found they also had in common and something which actually made them closer. If ever they needed an escape the other was always there with something fun planned in mind. He thought of Brooke now and how happy she was and giddy with Lucas.

'You're right, but she's really happy right now, I don't want to dampen her mood.' Nathan stated and Haley could tell he really meant it. She sighed and then folded her arms.

'Look, Nathan, I'm giving you options here either you tell Brooke or you tell me. But you need to tell someone because if you keep punching walls you won't be able to throw any balls around anymore.' Nathan was a bit taken aback no one was ever really that blunt with him.

'Fine,' he said and stayed silent. Haley nodded interpreting his silence to mean he would talk to Brooke. She then began to stand up. 'Where are you going?' Nathan asked her and she paused with her leg already swung over the bench.

'To stretch…' she said uncertainly. 'I figured the 'fine' meant you were going to tell Brooke.' He shook his head and before Haley could even sit properly down Nathan began talking.

'I'm here on an athletic scholarship which is fantastic because it means I don't need to rely on my Dad for anything,' Nathan paused and looked down at the bench. 'But he came to inform today that if marks don't improve he will happily talk to the Dean and take over paying for my fees and I can then move back home. I cannot handle that house anymore. If he makes me go back I won't be able to escape again.'

'What are you marks like?' Haley asked him. Nathan actually laughed now.

'That is the biggest joke of all, they are actually ok and in terms of the university standards they are good enough to maintain the scholarship. Apparently they aren't up to Dan's standards though and if they don't improve he will take it upon himself to remove me from this 'unhealthy environment' as he puts it. It's just a way for him to gain control of my life once again.' Haley looked shocked.

'So let me get this straight? Your marks actually good enough for you to keep the scholarship but Dan wants them improved? Not the university? So that he can buy his way back into your life and force you to move back in with him?' Nathan nodded when Haley finished talking. He could see anger flash across her face and she shook her head. 'That's just bloody unbelievable! I forgot how much I disliked Dan! He tried something similar with Luke in high school,' she looked back at Nathan and she was surprised to see how amused he looked. 'What?' she asked him.

'It's just, Hales, you look almost as angry as I was,' he paused and smiled, 'and thank you for not giving me the whole 'it will all work out' speech. I hate it.' She gave a small chuckle.

'It will all work out,' she said and watched as Nathan grinned. 'There is someone I think that could help with this.' Then she stood up and Nathan looked up at her with a curious expression on his face. 'But you need to go ice that hand first and I will find you when I have the details.' She was so firm in her statement that Nathan didn't push for details. He stood up and went to stand in front of her and then took a step closer to her. Suddenly once again he looked at Haley and felt drawn to her in a way that previously wasn't there. He pushed the thoughts back though.

'Thank you, Hales.' She nodded and watched him there was suddenly an intensity between them that wasn't there before. Feeling a bit unsettled she took a step back. 'Go ice that hand.'

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter but needed. **


	8. The No Sex Diaries Part 1

**A/N: Ok, I just have a few things I need to state. 1) This is the first part in either a two or three part little arc I guess. Things are going to change quickly now. 2) For all the Brucas fans, I know there is a lot more Naley going on in these chapters. Don't worry the Brucas storyline will also develop its just that Naley is the center. However I hate not giving my other pairings a proper story line so Brucas will become more prominent in later chapters. 3) I am considering changing the title of this story so don't be surprised if that happens suddenly. 4) If the reviews could increase that would be great, its really disappointing only getting like 3 reviews for a chapter. **

**To those of you who are reviewing thank you! **

**I will update soon. **

**Chapter 8: The No Sex Diaries Part 1 **

Brooke sat down in front of Haley folded her arms and then let out a frustrated huff. Haley looked over at her and gave her a small smile.

'What's the matter, Davis?' Haley asked her and put her book down. The two had made plans to meet for coffee, they hadn't really seen much of each other these days outside of lectures and cheer leading practice.

'It's Lucas,' Brooke began and placed her chin in her one hand, 'he won't have sex with me.' Haley's mouth dropped open, if she had been drinking something she was sure she would have spat it out or choked on it.

'Way to much information, Brooke. That's my best friend you are talking about,' she paused and pointed at Brooke, 'and you are my other best friend.'

'Haley, we've spoken about this topic before,' Brooke countered.

'Yeah, but it involved other boys you were sleeping with not Luke.' Haley concluded.

'But Haley,' Brooke looked at her with wide pleading eyes, 'Please!' Haley sighed and stood up.

'Fine, but I want coffee first. What can I get you?'

'An ice tea please,' Brooke said and she waited while Haley went to the counter and placed their order. A few minutes later she returned and handed Brooke her ice tea.

'Ok,' Haley said as she sat down, 'we can have this conversation. But I have a ground rule, I don't want any explicit detail.' Brooke nodded and then huffed again.

'Well, that won't be a problem considering there aren't any to give, his keeping everything relatively PG13.'

'Alright, and I take it you are tired of it? Has he said why?'

'Haley! I need sex,' Brooke moaned, 'I don't know why he just won't budge. I'm telling you, even if I were to walk naked in front of him he wouldn't do anything.' Haley gave a small laugh, she patted Brooke's hand.

'Listen, no guy would be immune to a naked Brooke Davis,' Haley considered things for a moment, 'Listen Brooke, from what I have seen recently I don't think Lucas wants to be just "another hook up" for you. It's probably why his taking things slow.'

'Haley, there is slow and then there is _slow,' _Brooke pouted, 'We could at least do other things.' Haley shook her head.

'Too much information!' she scolded Brooke and then took a sip of her coffee. 'Look, how about you just talk to him about it?'

'Haley, I will never ask for sex!'

'I'm not saying ask for sex. I'm saying ask him what type of pace you are in for and where you guys are at?'

'Oh but that's serious,' Brooke replied and Haley could tell the girl was suddenly nervous.

'Why?' Haley asked back. 'What are you worried about?' Brooke was silent for a bit and when she answered she spoke rather softly.

'I'm worried that if I ask him that, it will scare him away. You know how boys get when you even hint towards commitment.' Haley sighed Brooke did have a point but then again this was Lucas.

'Listen, Brooke, Luke is a bit more reasonable than other boys,' she paused and smiled, 'he was raised by a single mom who made sure he wouldn't turn into one of those sleep-with-everyone-run-from-true-feelings-boys.'

'Like Nathan?' Brooke asked and laughed, at the mention of Nathan Haley's mind went back to the day in the court with Nathan and hearing about his Dad. She had a meeting later on today that would hopefully help him out. Brooke started waving her hand in front of Haley's face. 'Haley! Come back to earth! Where'd you go there?' Haley just shook her head.

'Sorry, listen I really think you should just talk to Luke.' Brooke groaned and put her head down on the table.

'No sex makes me grumpy.' Brooke mumbled out and Haley could just make out what she said. She gave a small laugh, patted Brooke's arm and then changed the topic of conversation.

* * *

Luke knocked on the room door he had become accustomed to seeing these past few days. A minute later a beautiful girl opened the door and he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

'You're early,' Brooke said as a way of greeting and stepped aside so he could enter. He smiled at her and kissed her cheek as he entered.

'I know but I finished early and didn't see a point in waiting,' Luke sat down on the edge of Brooke's bed as she continued getting ready.

'The point Luke, is letting a girl get properly ready for her fifth date,' Brooke countered and stuck her tongue out at him. He just shrugged.

'But you look great,' he paused and put his hands behind his head, 'plus I don't mind watching.' Brooke laughed at that and turned to him nervously, she considered bringing up the awkward topic of sex now but decided to rather wait. They were going to go out for dinner and drinks, which she was grateful for, she figured having a drink or two might help her situation.

* * *

Haley took the stack of papers she had just been handed and grinned.

'Thank you, Claire,' she said to the small golden blonde girl sitting in front of her.

'No problem Haley, just remember tomorrow by eight!' Haley stood up and nodded her head. She left the offices quickly and scrambled out into the courtyard. Now she needed to find Nathan. She looked at the time, it was almost six o'clock. She sighed, she had no idea where Nathan would be around this time. She was resigning herself to the fact that she would have to call Brooke and ask her to track Nathan down when she realized something… _call. _At the last party she had been at Nathan had put his number in her phone. She looked through her phone book and finally his number saved as "_the good looking Scott". _She shook her head and called him.

Nathan heard his phone ring and grumpily got off his couch to answer it. He flipped his phone over and saw the caller I.D. It took him a moment to react but when he fully comprehended who it was he answered the call quickly.

'Hales?' he said questioningly.

'Whew,' she said back, 'Nathan, I'm so glad you answered and this didn't turn into some wild goose chase. I need to see you.' She stated seriously.

'Uh, ok?' Nathan paused and checked the time. 'I have dinner plans, can it be after that or maybe tomorrow?' he heard Haley sigh in frustration.

'What time are the dinner plans?'

'At 7,' Nathan replied and then realized he hadn't asked the most obvious question. 'Why do you need to see me?'

'Just give me a sec,' Haley said back and positioned her phone between her face and shoulder she started going through the stack of papers in her hand, skimming over exactly what was needed. There was quite a lot but it would only take them a few hours, she figured letting Nathan go out for dinner would be alright. 'Ok, you can go for dinner but Nathan, this is important if you aren't back by 21:30 latest I will come find you and kick your ass.'

'Uh Haley, what is this about?' he asked once again, she was bossing him around and he figured he at least deserved to know why.

'It's about Dan,' she responded. 'Hey Nate, where are you going for dinner?' she asked casually afterwards like she hadn't said anything important at all. It took Nathan a few seconds to process the two separate statements.

'What about Dan? And I'm going to Miss Julia's,' Nathan added and waited eagerly for a response. Miss Julia's was quite a popular off campus restaurant the food there was always good and you could get lots of different kinds of food there.

'Ooooh!' he heard Haley squeal into the phone. 'Could you bring back some spring rolls please? And I will explain everything later ok?' Nathan sighed he felt like he had just stepped into another dimension. He couldn't really be having this conversation with Haley could he?

'Alright, I guess I will see you later.' With that they both hung up the phone. Haley went back to her room to do some research, shower, change and grab some dinner herself. Nathan took the time to chill a bit and then get ready to meet his "friend" for dinner. A "friend" he had been dating on and off for awhile.

* * *

Nathan watched as the pretty brunette sitting beside him, slid her hand up his leg and gave him a sultry smile. He shifted a bit this night was going somewhere he definitely approved of. She was cute and good in bed. Nathan quickly paid the bill and took a hold of Becca's hand.

'My place is right around the corner,' she said and pulled him out the restaurant and into a kiss. Nathan's mind was only on one thing now, all thoughts of his earlier conversation with Haley had been temporarily erased from his head. He had just reached her apartment when Nathan felt his phone vibrate, he groaned. Breaking from the kiss Becca had pulled him into once inside her apartment, he took his phone out and looked at the caller I.D. He sighed when he saw Haley's name appear on the screen.

'I have to take this sorry,' he said to Becca quickly who shrugged and slipped her hands under his shirt and then began to kiss his neck.

'Hey Hales,' Nathan said trying to concentrate on the phone call and not what Becca's hands and mouth were doing.

'Nathan, you are late, I seriously need you back.' Haley said immediately and got to the point.

'Can't this wait till tomorrow? Dan isn't going anywhere.' Nathan responded.

'No, this has to be in by 8 tomorrow morning! Listen, whatever you are busy with can't be as important as this,' Haley replied impatiently and waited for a response. Nathan kept quiet and looked down at Becca who was busy unbuttoning his pants. He sighed in frustration, he couldn't give up an opportunity to prevent Dan from interfering in his life. He just wished it could wait a bit.

'Oh, if only you knew. I will be there in 10.' Nathan said and ended the call. He put his phone away and then put his hands on Becca's shoulder.

'Becca, I have to go, something important has come up,' Nathan said and tried to ignore her hands again.

'Something important has come up,' she said and winked at him. Nathan gave a small laugh.

'Can we pick this up tomorrow?' he asked her seriously and she shook her head.

'Nope, I'm leaving tomorrow for the weekend, going to see my parents,' she said and placed a kiss on his neck. 'You sure you want to stop?'

'No, I really don't but I have too,' Nathan pulled her into a kiss and after a few minutes he broke the kiss. 'See you when you are back then?' he asked her and took out his car keys. She sighed and sat down on her couch. She looked at Nathan she was a bit upset he had to leave but their casual dating was just that casual and she was ok with it being like that. She enjoyed the sex and his company and she didn't want anything serious. Which meant there was no point in getting upset about this.

'Definitely!' she finally replied and gave him another sultry smile. Nathan left her place, really grumpy that he had been interrupted.

* * *

Haley arrived at Nathan's dorm room he had said he would be there in 10 minutes so Haley had made a point of only going in about 15 minutes. She figured he may have been a few minutes late. She knocked on the door and within seconds it opened. Nathan grumpily stared down at her.

'Hi,' she said when he didn't say anything. He nodded and moved aside for her to enter.

'What is this about?' Nathan finally said and took a seat at his couch, Haley whipped out a yellow folder from her bag and tossed it at him.

'There is this lady I know that works in administration for the university,' Haley paused and went to sit down on the chair opposite him. His dorm room was a lot bigger than hers. 'She likes me quite a lot because I bring baked goods for when I submit my tutoring documents. Anyway, I told her about your problem and she said that there is a way for a student to essentially ensure that he has total say over what happens to him at the university. As in, no matter what your parents can not interfere in any way. This also means though that if you get into any trouble your parents can't help. You fill out those forms and it means try as he may, Dan can't pull your scholarship and pay your fees. Everything would be up to your discretion and the university has to accept it.' Haley finished and watched Nathan contemplate this.

'So even if my dad tries to pull the scholarship, the university would need my approval to do it? And if I said no then they won't?' Haley nodded.

'There's just one catch all those forms need to be done and handed back to Claire by 8 A.M. tomorrow, it's the last day student files will be edited to include such provisions.'

'Hales, this is great,' Nathan said. His bad mood disappearing just a bit. 'Cutting it close with the time frame,' he said understanding why she was so adamant he had come back. She didn't want to risk not getting it done in time.

'You can thank me with some spring rolls,' Haley said remembering he was supposed to bring some back. Nathan looked horror struck.

'I forgot!' he said and looked away. 'Sorry.' He then mumbled. Haley just laughed.

'I figured you might have, you sounded uh,' she paused choosing her next word carefully, 'distracted when I called earlier.' She watched as Nathan smirked and then grimaced he looked slightly grumpy again. Haley stood up and noticed a bottle of Kahlua sitting on his kitchen counter.

'Listen, I'll be back in about ten minutes, you start looking at those forms. I think it will take us a few hours to complete them.'

'Us?' Nathan asked. 'Hales, you've done enough you don't have to complete them with me.' She laughed.

'Yeah, I do, one person won't finish them in time.' With that she quickly left the apartment and made her way to the 24 hour coffee shop they had on campus. She ordered two milkshakes got some muffins and cake and then made her way back to Nathan's room. She let herself in and Nathan immediately looked up. Haley noted that he now looked stressed in addition to still being in a bad mood.

'What's all that?' he asked her and walked over to the kitchen counter where she put it down.

'You need to eat something,' she said handing him a piece of caramel cake, 'and drink something. So that you are less grumpy. I really don't want to spend my night with someone in a bad mood. Even if this someone is the "good looking Scott".' Haley finished remembering what he had saved himself under in her phone. It took Nathan a moment to register what Haley was referring to but when he did he laughed.

'What? It's true. I am the good looking Scott,' he paused and took the milkshake Haley had just handed him, three quarters of it was vanilla and the last quarter was chocolate. 'And I'm not in a bad mood.' Haley laughed at that and gave him an incredulous look

'Take a big sip of that please,' she said and motioned for him to hurry up when he didn't. Nathan obliged and when he had drunk some Haley took the milkshake back. Nathan scrunched his eyebrows.

'Hales, what are you doing?' She went over and grabbed his Kahlua. 'I don't like that stuff.' Nathan added in. Haley ignored him and poured some of the coffee flavored alcohol into his milk shake. She then mixed his milkshake and handed it back to him.

'Trust me, you will now.' Haley said to Nathan and watched as he took a sip.

'That is delicious,' he said and went back to the couch with his cake and milkshake. Haley did the same thing to her milkshake and then went and sat down next to him on the couch. She took a hold of the documents that were on the table in front of them. Some of them had purple tags on and others orange ones. She handed Nathan the orange tagged documents and took the purple ones.

'I divided the work up,' she said and took out her laptop. 'I can't help you with all the admin info like birth dates, addresses etc. But I can help you with the motivational side of things.' Nathan stared at this girl sitting beside him, who had somehow found a solution to one of his biggest problems and had stayed to help him. What's more she had managed to get rid of his bad mood too. He was a little bit in awe. Sure he still would have liked to have sex with Becca but Haley had saved his ass.

'Thanks, Hales.' He said to her and they began working.

* * *

Brooke watched as Luke sat down on her bed and brought her laptop onto his lap. She removed her shoes and went to sit down next to him. Then she picked up her laptop off his lap and moved it aside. With a cheeky smile in place she then moved and sat on Luke's lap, she leaned down and began to kiss him. He immediately responded running his one hand up her back and cupping her face with his other hand. The kiss increased in intensity and Brooke slipped her one hand under Luke's shirt. She was hoping he would just go with the mood this time and not stop her. But a few minutes later he pulled away. Brooke huffed and looked incredulously at him.

'Lucas Scott, is there a reason you don't want to have sex with me?' Brooke finally exploded and got off him. Luke gave a small laugh and turned to look at her.

'I do want to have sex with you, Brooke,' he paused and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. 'But not so quickly.'

'Why not? That's what most people dating these days do,' she responded and looked him in the eyes.

'Exactly, I don't want us to be like most other people dating these days.' Lucas said softly and Brooke softened. She could feel butterflies in her stomach. She sighed happily and brought her laptop back over to them.

'Ok,' she said and gave him a kiss on the cheek that was a reason she could deal with. She decided not to push the topic anymore. 'What are we watching?'

'Ladies choice tonight,' Lucas said and smiled at her. 'I picked the last time.' Brooke got comfy and selected a comedy for them to watch. She let Lucas trace patterns on her back and half way through the movie she could feel herself drifting off to sleep. She didn't mind though, she was just so comfortable. She just hoped Lucas would stay too.

* * *

Nathan got up and made them each a cup of coffee. They were making good progress but it was taking them longer than had been expected. They were finding little clauses here and there that required them to do extra work they hadn't budgeted for. Consequently, coffee had become an important part of the night and now early morning. Nathan checked the time it was past two in the morning. He handed Haley a cup.

'Thanks,' she said and put down a form she had just completed. He sat back down.

'How's your pile going?' he asked her. She nodded and smiled at him.

'Your motivations are done,' she paused and did a quick survey of the forms, 'you may want to read them though and I'm just busy doing these last few ones. You?'

'Almost there, just a few more left to do.' Nathan replied and they both took a sip of their coffee. Haley had tied her hair up in a messy bun and few strands were coming loose and framing her face. Nathan couldn't help think that she looked pretty with her like that. He was surprised to find that while they had been working intently, Haley was good company and they had been joking and laughing as well. Haley took out her phone and set her alarm for seven thirty, she wanted to make sure that these forms would get in on time and nothing, say like oversleeping, would prevent that.

'Have you made me sound like a girl?' Nathan asked while getting back to work, Haley paused for a second and looked over at him.

'You do that all by yourself,' she replied and laughed, Nathan shot her an unimpressed look. 'No, I kept the motivations short and sweet. They shouldn't sound like a girl wrote them. It won't matter anyway all of this is just a formality. Claire will make sure this application is approved, she just needs everything there.'

'This Claire girl really likes you.'

'She does, she says she doesn't deal with too many pleasant students and is happy to help me out because I go out of my way to be nice to her.'

'Why?' Nathan asked her and Haley raised an eyebrow.

'Why be nice to her?' Haley asked for clarification and Nathan nodded back. 'Because being pleasant can go a long way and she looks like she needs it.'

'It seems like,' Nathan started and looked over at her catching her gaze, 'you are always looking out for every one else's needs. Who looks out for you?' Nathan didn't mean to ask such a serious question but it was out there now and he wanted to know the answer. Haley stayed quiet.

'A lot of people. You guys, my family. I don't really need a lot of looking out for,' she answered quietly back.

'Everyone needs some kind of looking out for every once in awhile though,' Nathan replied back and they both put down the now completed forms they had been working on and picked up another one.

'Alright, Nate, then who looks out for you?' Haley asked and Nathan considered this for a moment.

'I do,' he said and looked over at Haley she was watching him carefully. 'And I guess at this moment in time you do too.' Nathan said seriously, Haley dropped her gaze and then looked back at Nathan.

'It's the least I can do,' she began working again trying to ignore the feel of Nathan watching her, 'you looked out for me at that party and anything I can do to thwart Dan is something worth doing.' Nathan laughed.

'He seriously pisses you off, doesn't he?' Haley looked over at him again feeling less awkward now with the change in subject.

'Yeah he does,' she paused and stretched out her feet, 'I mean I know he's your Dad and I don't mean to say bad things about him. But I was there with Lucas when he made his life hell and that just sealed my opinion of him. I'm sure there's more to him but for the most part he seriously pisses me off.' Nathan had been listening to Haley's reply but he was looking at the intensity in her expression and something about it made him want to get closer to her. Which was ironic because there wasn't much space between them to begin with as the couch they were on was pretty small.

'He really pisses me off too.' Nathan replied and then they both kept quiet for a bit and carried on working. About 45 minutes later Haley was done. She put her last form back in the folder, with the others her and Nathan had completed. She saved all the work she had done on the laptop to a USB as was required and put that in the folder too. She then double checked everything in the folder, when she was happy everything was in all in order she relaxed back against the couch. Nathan was still working, he didn't have much more to do so Haley figured she would just wait and then they could check everything all together and make sure it was all there. She shifted her position a bit and yawned, it was later than she had expected. She rested her head and closed her eyes for a few seconds, without really realizing it, and in a matter of minutes she had fallen asleep.

Nathan watched Haley double check everything in the folder and then lean back on the couch. He knew she would probably drift off to sleep in a matter of minutes but he didn't mind. He would wake her when he was done or just let her sleep till the morning. Nathan carried on working listening to her steady breathing. He was busy with his last form when he looked over at Haley and saw a really tense expression on her face, her breathing wasn't as steady anymore either. Nathan didn't think too much of it and carried on with the form, glancing up every so often to check on her. He finished the last form and put in the folder and turned to look at her properly. That's when he noticed her hands, they were clenched into tight fists. She must be having a bad dream Nathan thought. He shifted over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

'Hales,' he said softly and she stirred a bit. He gently squeezed her shoulder. 'Haley.' He said a bit loudly and with that she shot straight up. Nathan's hand gripped her shoulder a bit tighter and it took her a moment but when she had her senses back she looked over at him. He looked concerned.

'You were having a bad dream,' Nathan said and his gaze dropped to her hands they were still in fists. He shifted a bit to be in a better position to face her. He then gently took a hold of her one hand, he turned it around to have the palm facing up and uncurled her clenched fingers. He looked down at her palm it had nail indentations on it. Whatever she had been dreaming about stressed her out so much that she had dug her nails extremely hard into the palm of her hand. Nathan checked out her other hand, which was worst, she had actually dug her nails so hard into this palm that she had ripped the skin a bit.

'What were you dreaming about?' he asked her and rubbed her palm gently. She shook her head. She was extremely tired.

'I don't really remember,' Haley lied she knew exactly what she had been dreaming but she didn't feel like recapping it. Nathan nodded and Haley could see the concern in his eyes, he was also still rubbing her palm. She broke the eye contact and looked at the yellow folder, it was complete. She gently removed her hand from his and picked up the folder. Nathan, who hadn't said anything since her reply, watched her do a quick inventory that everything was there and in order. She turned back to him and smiled and he couldn't help but smile back.

'It's all done,' she yawned and stretched out her arms. She then stood up. 'I should get back to my room.' Nathan immediately stood up too and put a hand on her arm to stop her.

'No, Hales, just sleep here,' he said to her seriously. He really didn't want her to go anywhere considering how stressed she looked after he woke her up. 'You'll get more sleep here than by the time you get back to your room and climb into bed. I also don't want you walking across campus alone this late. I'll walk you back if you want but I'd prefer if you just stayed here.' He said it with such sincerity in his voice that Haley didn't argue. She was also too tired to argue. She sat back down on the couch.

'Ok,' she said and began to make herself comfy on the couch. Nathan gave a small laugh.

'You aren't sleeping on the couch, Hales,' he said seriously and pointed to his room. 'Go take the bed.' She looked up at him.

'Nathan, this couch is like half the size of you, if you sleep on it you will wake up in a lot of pain.' She stated seriously. 'And I really don't mind.' Haley added and once more began to make herself comfy. Nathan wasn't having it though, she had stretched out her legs on the couch and he walked over took a hold of her legs and swung them over the couch.

'No.' is all he said and folded his arms. Haley actually laughed and stood up.

'You, Nathan Scott are one stubborn boy,' she said sleepily and yawned. He didn't know why but he really liked hearing her say his full name like that. 'Come on.' She said a few seconds later and grabbed his hand. She walked them to his room and was grateful to see a double bed. She let go of his hand and walked over to the left side of the bed. 'Let's just both sleep in the bed.' she said with another yawn.

'Hales-' Nathan began.

'I promise you, its fine, its either this or walk me back to my room.' She said and removed the light sweater she had been wearing over her t-shirt. She had taken off her shoes ages ago. She untied her hair, lifted the covers and got into the bed. She closed her eyes within in seconds and it caused Nathan to smile. He then got ready for bed and climbed in quietly next to her, after turning off the bedroom light. Haley had been on verge of sleep when Nathan climbed into the bed, for a few seconds she was a bit more awake, but then she could feel the heat from his body. Within in minutes she was more warm and comfortable than she had been in ages. She easily drifted off to sleep. Nathan, however was a bit more nervous, while this certainly wasn't the first time he had a girl in his bed, this was just different. This was a girl who had just spent the last few hours of her night helping him prevent his pain in the ass Dad from gaining control of his life. He looked over at her, she was very pretty and her skin- Nathan cut his thoughts off. No this was Haley, things were platonic between them. He could tell she was sleeping easily now and he decided he should probably sleep too. He closed his eyes and after what felt like ages he drifted off to sleep. He only vaguely registered feeling a smaller softer hand take a hold of his sometime during the night.

* * *

**A/N: Please leave a review!**


	9. The No Sex Diaries Part 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Please keep reviewing. The next chapter will be up in a few days. Read the A/N at the end as well please!**

**Chapter 9: The No Sex Diaries Part 2 **

Somewhere there was this screeching noise and it was getting louder; Nathan groggily registered this in the back of his mind. He tried to cover his ears with his pillow and drown out the noise. Where was it coming from?! He opened his very heavy eyes, sat up and identified the noise to be coming from his lounge area. He walked grumpily into the lounge and stared at Haley's wailing phone. He picked it up and pressed a few buttons, in an attempt to turn off the alarm, but nothing happened. He sighed in frustration. He turned around and walked back to his bedroom.

'Haley,' he said and got back into the bed and gently shook her, 'make it stop please!' Haley with her eyes half open pressed some button on the side of her phone, which turned off her alarm. She took the phone and put it on the floor and the pulled the duvet back over her, with the full intention of going back to sleep. Slowly, she began to become aware of Nathan next to her and the reason she was there and why she had set her alarm in the first place. She groaned and shot up causing Nathan to sit up too.

'I have to go take your forms to Claire,' Haley sleepily said and rubbed her eyes. She checked her phone it was now 7:35 a.m. She was trying to ignore the awkward feeling of waking up in Nathan's bed. She got out of bed, put her sweater back on, picked up her phone and for the first time that morning really looked at Nathan. Haley smiled despite herself, he was cute, his hair was all messy, he was half asleep and had a grin on his face.

'Why are you grinning?' Haley asked as Nathan got out of bed and they both walked into the other room. Haley quickly sat down on the couch and began putting her shoes on. Nathan's grin grew as he started to make coffee.

'I was just wondering what you think about the fact that you are about to do the "infamous Nathan Scott morning after walk of shame" wearing the same clothes from the previous night and all!?' Nathan finished and continued to grin at her. Haley stood up and gawked at him. Leaving Nathan's room like this was very suspicious she thought to herself. Nathan watching her expression actually began to laugh.

'Oh, shut up!' Haley mumbled out, picked up the yellow folder that had the forms in and looked over at Nathan. 'I'll let you know when these are in.' Haley said holding up the folder, Nathan nodded and then he stopped making his coffee.

'I don't know why I was making coffee when I can just go back to sleep.' Nathan said. He didn't know why he had just said that either. Maybe to fill the silence or to delay Haley a few seconds? Haley gave a small half chuckle-half scoff and shook her head. She had 15 minues to get to Claire she had better get going.

'See you later, "The good looking Scott".' She mimicked again and then laughed. Nathan winked at her.

'Enjoy your walk!' Nathan cheekily replied. She was at the door when he added, 'Thanks again, Hales.' And with that she left.

* * *

Brooke felt a kiss on her cheek, slowly she opened her eyes and saw Lucas. She smiled at him.

'Morning,' he said and let her stretch out and sit up.

'Morning, what time is it?' she asked reaching for her phone.

'It's about half 7.' Lucas said as Brooke checked her phone, she put it aside and turned her attention back on Luke.

'It's early,' she said and snuggled a bit closer to Luke. He began to draw patterns on her back.

'I have to get to my room, shower, change and head to class.' He kissed the top of her head. 'I thought maybe we could grab coffee before I do that?'

'I'd like that,' Brooke said and moved away she began to get out of bed. 'Give me a few minutes to get ready.' With that she went into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, hair and changed. After coffee she would go back and properly get ready for the day. When she emerged Lucas was staring intently at his phone.

'What's up?' Brooke asked him.

'Oh, my mom just messaged me and asked me to give her a call later,' he said and Brooke noticed he looked nervous.

'Is everything ok?'

'I'm not sure but probably.' Luke replied and put his phone away. He stood up and went to take Brooke's hand. They left her room.

'You really worry about her,' Brooke stated. She didn't have to ask that as a question, she automatically knew the answer. The way he cared about his mom was clear from the tone of his voice when he spoke about her.

'I can't help it. She is always looking out for me and because of that she forgets about herself. So I make it a point to look out for her. Ask Haley she'll tell you the same thing, hell Haley worries about my mom just as much.' Brooke gave a small laugh.

'It's nice,' she paused and squeezed his hand. 'What a family should be like. Growing up, my parents were hardly ever there and when they were, they were a pain to have around. No concern, just criticism about everything. When I met Nathan after awhile he became my substitute family.'

'It's funny how much closer you are with Nate than I am. I mean you know most of our history in high school and we get along now. But I don't know him like you do.' Brooke shrugged.

'That's circumstances more than anything else there just hasn't been anything to really bring you boys properly together.'

'What do you mean?' Lucas asked her a bit confused.

'Well, sure you guys have a complicated family life going on and that resulted in you guys having to interact but that's just messy. It limits your relationship. You need to bond over something else.'

'So how did you and Haley do it?'

'While after I recruited her to the cheerleading squad she annoyingly started to take an interest in my life. Eventually I found myself telling her things I wouldn't normally tell others. And hey if it wasn't for Haley we may never have met.' Lucas playfully nudged her.

'You're too pretty for that to not have happened. I would have found a way to get your attention,' Lucas said and Brooke smiled widely at him.

'Yeah, but I may still have ignored you!' Brooke replied and laughed. The two continued to lightly banter they got coffee and then went their separate ways after making plans to meet up later.

Brooke was cutting across a courtyard when she spotted Haley. She grinned and walked straight over to her. Haley was busy typing a text message and didn't realise when Brooke walked up next to her.

'Haley James,' Brooke eventually said and Haley jumped. She looked over at her friend.

'Brooke! I didn't see you there,' Haley replied and put her phone away.

'What had you so distracted?'

'Just had to send a message, Brooke,' she paused and ran a hand through her hair. 'Why are you up so early?'

'Went for coffee with Luke,' Brooke replied and then she stopped walking causing Haley to stop too.

'What?' Haley asked nervously. She could feel Brooke's eyes busy scrutinizing her.

'You wore those clothes yesterday!' Brooke exclaimed and broke into a grin. 'Where exactly were you last night?' Haley shifted uncomfortably.

'Did you and Luke finally have sex?' Haley asked instead of answering Brooke's question.

'No,' Brooke said and her grin grew. 'And don't change the subject. This is scandalous.' Haley laughed.

'There's nothing to report Brooke, I just worked all night in the library. I have a paper due.' Haley said and then rubbed her neck and started walking again. She hated lying to Brooke and she seemed to be doing it a lot lately. But she didn't want to explain why she was with Nathan. She figured it was up to Nathan to tell Brooke about his dad and Haley was sure Brooke would want to know how Haley had ended up being the one to help Nathan. That was a story which could unravel all the way back to Drew. Someone Haley was happy never to acknowledge again. She glanced at Brooke who scrunched her eyes at Haley.

'Ok, if you say so,' Brooke said and then shrugged. 'I'm assuming you would tell me if there was a boy you were sleeping with again.' Haley flinched. She wished her record in the sex category was a bit more boring. But in high school Haley had met this boy who she had fallen for. Although she had always wanted to wait for marriage before she had sex, the intensity between them broke her resolve. She had figured they would always be together anyway, so she had slept with him. She now knew how naïve she had been. The relationship had continued for another 9 month,s when she walked in on him busy having sex with another girl. Haley had moved on, she had had one more relationship where she had had sex with the boy but one day during her first year at university she had discussed it all with Brooke. Telling her everything from high school and how she wanted to wait now and only have sex with someone who meant the world to her or until marriage. Brooke hadn't laughed she had been ridiculously supportive of Haley. Although Brooke didn't share her views on waiting, she had been there for Haley to discuss it all and to offer advice when she was confused.

'I definitely would,' Haley said.

'You sure you weren't spending the night with some boy? You even have bed hair.' Haley laughed but didn't answer. Instead she changed the topic to Brooke's night with Luke. The girls eventually went their separate ways, carrying on with the university day as normal.

* * *

Two days had passed and Haley was having a good week. Three of her lectures had been cancelled, she'd done all her assignments and she'd been sleeping better too. She had just entered the gym, for cheer leading practice, and had put her bag down when a very tall dark haired figure walked up to her. Nathan grinning widely at her reached Haley and proceeded to pick her up, much to her surprise.

'Today I got an email from the university with the official documents confirming that I have sole say over what happens to me at Duke.' He spun around with her and Haley giggled.

'Ok, you can put me down now!' Haley said as she gripped his upper arms. Nathan still grinning slowly began to let her slide down. As he did his arms inadvertently pulled her top up a bit and he was suddenly in contact with her back. When he reached the floor he didn't release her, she was circled in his arms. Her skin felt hot where he touched it and he liked it, her hair was in a messy bun and her eyes were a golden brown. Haley didn't know what was happening but she was suddenly very close to Nathan who hadn't let her go and he was staring very intently at her. Not to mention his thumb had started to rub small circles on her back where her skin was exposed. She was also very keen to feel his arms again and close the space between them… BANG! A door had slammed shut and Haley and Nathan had immediately jumped apart. Haley could feel her cheeks flush and Nathan was still staring at her. A few seconds later the person who had slammed the locker room door closed was revealed to be Lucas. He was walking over to them.

'Hey guys,' he greeted them. He then moved over to Haley and kissed the top of her head, a habit that had sprung up from their childhood. Nathan's hand involuntarily clenched at the action though.

'I wanted to talk to you guys about something,' Lucas added. Haley and Nathan exchanged looks.

'About what?' Nathan had asked.

'I just want to wait for Brooke to get here, I don't think she will be impressed if I ask you guys first.' Nathan groaned and Haley checked the time, Brooke was due any minute. An awkward silence kind of fell between the three of them.

'How was practice?' Haley asked the boys to fill the silence.

'Good,' Nathan replied and Lucas laughed.

'Good is an understatement. I haven't seen Nathan play that well in ages.' Lucas explained.

'Is that so?' Haley asked turning her attention back to Nathan. 'Any particular reason why?'

'Just feeling less stressed,' Nathan said cockily.

'I wonder why!' Haley cheekily replied and Nathan gave a grin and shook his head.

'Am I missing something here?' Lucas asked looking between the two.

'Just me!' came a response from behind Luke. Brooke had arrived; everyone turned and smiled at her.

'Hey Pretty,' Lucas said and gave her a small kiss. 'I have some news.' His attention turned fully to Brooke. 'Remember a few days ago my mom wanted me to give her a call?' Brooke nodded and Haley's attention on Lucas increased. Was Karen ok? Haley wondered. 'Well, she had this cabin booked out for her and a few friends, anyway they aren't using it anymore. They are going overseas and she offered it to me,' he paused and turned to Haley. 'And you, Haley.' Haley was relieved this was the topic of the conversation and not something unduly serious.

'Are you asking permission to go away with Haley? To some intimate cabin?' Brooke asked and raised an eyebrow. Suddenly Nathan was paying a bit more attention to the conversation. Luke laughed.

'No, there's enough space for 8 people. I was hoping you would come with me? And you two,' Lucas pointed at Nathan and Haley. 'And maybe Peyton and Jake.' Brooke's eyes shone with excitement.

'That sounds great,' Brooke exclaimed. 'When is it booked for?'

'This weekend. I realise it may be short notice-'

'I'm definitely in.' Brooke interrupted.

'Uh no-'

'I don't think so-' Haley and Nathan had started talking at the same time.

'Why not?' Brooke turned to them and cocked her head. Haley looked at Nathan and then back at Brooke. She rubbed the back of her neck.

'Uh it's just,' Haley considered her words for a second. 'It sounds like a couples outing.'

'I have to agree.' Nathan added.

'The six of us go out all the time,' Brooke countered well Luke had his gaze firmly fixed on Haley.

'Yeah, to parties, where there are other people to talk to.' Nathan countered and Brooke folded her arms.

'It won't be like that,' Brooke said. `It will be fun.'

'Plus I already told my mom you were in, Haley.' Lucas added and Haley suddenly found herself staring at two people smiling widely at her. She groaned and looked at Nathan.

'It seems I have no choice,' Haley mumbled out and sighed. 'Fine. I'm in. But if I have to go so does Nathan.' She shot Nathan a pointed look.

'What?' Nathan laughed. 'Not a chance. These two have no sway over me.' Nathan indicated Brooke and Lucas.

'Please, Nathan, you're coming.' Brooke stated firmly. 'I'd like to see you try and win this argument against Haley and I.' Nathan looked back between Brooke and Haley and then his eyes lingered on Haley for a few moments longer. He figured the trip may not be so bad with Haley there… and then he stopped his thoughts. He just sighed and nodded.

'When do we leave?'

'Friday morning. Anyone opposed to skipping lectures?' Lucas asked them and they all shook their heads. Haley mentally went through her lecture schedule for Friday there was only one lecture she had, for a class she was ahead with the work for anyway.

'Great it's settled. Brooke, could you ask Peyton when she arrives for practice?' Brooke nodded and kissed Lucas goodbye. A rather long kiss. Haley turned her attention away from them and to Nathan.

'Doesn't this sound fun?' Haley asked him sarcastically.

'Exactly what I wanted to do this weekend, I was waiting for the opportunity to be a third wheel.' Nathan responded and shook his head. Haley gave a small smile.

'Actually, you get to be the sixth wheel and I get to be the third wheel,' Haley cheekily replied and pointed at herself. Nathan laughed.

'Why can't you be the sixth wheel?'

'Third wheel sounds better. And ladies choice, Scott.' Brooke and Lucas had finally broken apart.

'Shall we head off, Nate?' Lucas asked and he nodded.

'See you later, Hales.' Nathan said and walked off with Lucas.

'Hales?' Brooke questioned grabbing Haley's attention. 'When did Nathan start calling you that?'

'Awhile ago,' Haley responded and the girls began stretching.

'I didn't realise you two spoke so much?' Brooke had phrased it as a question but Haley ignored it.

'Peyton just arrived,' she said instead. 'You should quickly go tell her about the plans for this weekend.'

Brooke stood up without a moment's hesitation and excitedly made her way over to Peyton. Haley sighed in relief, she didn't know how she knew but she knew that Brooke suspected something had happened between her and Nathan. She was subtly finding ways of questioning her about Nathan all the time. She was sure this weekend would provide amble opportunity for the questioning to continue. She just hoped the weekend ended up at least being mildly enjoyable.

* * *

**A/N: I just wanted to comment on the fact that Haley has had sex before in this fic. I know in the show her waiting was a big thing. But I think its not the only thing that makes Haley well Haley. And I want Haley and Nathan explored from a different aspect. So I hope it doesn't bother a lot of you. **


	10. The No Sex Diaries Part 3

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews. Part 3 is the last part in this little theme... its a very long chapter though. Almost triple the length of what I normally post. Please don't worry if you get a message saying I re-posted this chapter, there maybe some little errors I change. **

**Please review! And Enjoy!**

**Chapter 10: The No Sex Diaries Part 3**

**Friday**

Haley picked up the bag she had packed for the weekend and swung it over her shoulder she then grabbed her room keys and headed out the door. It was going to be a hot day today she could feel it as soon as she stepped outside. Once her room was all locked up she reached into her bag and pulled out her black sunglasses and put them on. She checked the time, it was early and they were all supposed to be meeting Nathan at his car. His SUV had six seats at the back and could accommodate everyone. They had decided to go in his car instead of driving down separately. Haley was almost at the car when she could see Nathan leaning against it, with a cup of coffee in his hands. He was in sunglasses too, a blue shirt and jeans. He looked good, Haley thought to herself as she stopped in front of him. Nathan had been watching Haley approach she was in shorts with a white t-shirt, her hair tied up in a messy bun and sunglasses. He liked the look although he couldn't help but note that she seemed a little frustrated.

'Morning,' she said when she reached him.

'Morning,' he replied and moved off the car and went to the side of it, he returned later with a cup of coffee and held it out to Haley.

'Coffee?' she asked and smiled.

'Iced coffee for you,' Nathan paused and leaned against the car again. 'I thought you may like it more than normal coffee.' Haley beamed.

'Thank you,' she said. 'I love iced coffee. What did the others get?'

'Nothing,' Nathan said as Haley dropped her bag and leaned against the car next to him. She laughed.

'Why?' Nathan motioned to her watch.

'Check the time, Hales.' She did the others were already 10 minutes late.

'I knew they would be late and I rate it will be another 15minutes before they get here.' Nathan concluded. 'Figured coffee was in order.'

'So if you knew they were going to be late why did you pitch up on time?'

'I assumed you wouldn't be late,' Haley looked over at Nathan. It was hard to read him when she couldn't really see his eyes.

'Making assumptions about me now?' Haley asked when she realised she had been quite for a few moments to long. She took a sip of her ice coffee.

'I tend to like to get to the know girls who spend a night at my place,' Nathan replied cheekily and smiled down at her. Haley shook her head.

'First,' she began and held up one finger, 'that is so not true. Second, assumptions aren't 'getting to know someone.' She had held up her second finger and then a third one. 'And thirdly I didn't "spend" a night.' Nathan laughed.

'Not a morning person. I take it,' Nathan added and Haley watched the grin on his face grow. 'I'll add that to the list.'

'Oh shut up.' Haley said while half chuckling and laughing. She had finished her iced coffee. She shifted against the car and checked the time once again. She sighed. 'You know, if they were going to drag us on this couples retreat, they could have at least been on time.' Haley huffed and watched as Nathan nodded, as he did he shifted a bit closer to her and suddenly their arms were touching. It started to cloud Haley's head. She liked the heat coming off him and he smelled really good, like a mixture of coffee and oranges. Haley looked at Nathan who was still grinning at her and then pushed off from the car. She didn't need her head clouded right about now.

'Done with your coffee?' she asked him and he nodded again. She took his coffee cup from him and walked over to the nearest dustbin. She walked back slowly and when she reached him, he was busy packing her bag into his car. A moment later Jake and Peyton finally appeared.

'Hey,' Haley greeted them and smiled. The warmth in here greeting was not returned. Both of them merely nodded and walked over to put their bags in the car. Nathan appeared from the other side of the car and walked over to Haley.

'I'm sensing some hostility from those two,' Nathan said when he reached her and Haley laughed.

'Some!' she exclaimed. 'They must be fighting.'

'Maybe they didn't want to come on this outing either?' Nathan suggested.

'No, Peyton was super excited when Brooke told her. They've been fighting-' Haley immediately stopped talking as Peyton had just appeared.

'Where are Brooke and Lucas?' Peyton asked them in a rather forceful tone. 'We should be on the road already.'

'How would that work? You only just got here yourself-' Nathan said and Haley cut him off quickly. The look Peyton was shooting Nathan was terrifying.

'She'll be here in a minute. She just messaged me.' Peyton nodded at Haley's response, turned around, opened a back door and got into the car without saying another word.

'Do you have a death wish?' Haley asked turning her attention to Nathan, who laughed at her question.

'What? I was just pointing out the obvious? How was she angry about not being on the road already when they had only just arrived?' Nathan shot back and shrugged. Haley shook her head.

'You really don't understand girls. Try not to point out any more obvious things.' Jake came over and joined them.

'What did you do, Jake?' Nathan asked him once he was in ear shot. Jake threw his hands up in exasperation.

'What haven't I done?' Jake replied icily.

'I can you hear you, Jake!' A yell came from the car making Haley jump a little, Nathan laugh and Jake groan.

'Dude, can I ride shot gun?' Jake asked Nathan seriously. Nathan looked at him and shook his head.

'No way, you need to sort this out and I don't want to be yelled at while driving-' Nathan began but Jake interrupted him.

'Nate, come on!'

'It's too late anyway,' Nathan paused and pointed at Haley. 'Hales, already called shot gun.' Jake groaned and took a deep breath.

'I should probably go talk to her.' Jake reluctantly said before Haley could reply to Nathan's previous statement. As he disappeared Brooke and Lucas appeared, hand in hand.

'Sorry we are late,' Brooke said cheerily.

'Someone left their packing for the last minute.' Lucas stated and nudged Brooke. He then took their bags and packed them away. He returned a moment later.

'Nathan, would you like me to drive?' he shook his head.

'No, you chill with Brooke the GPS is programmed with the places address already.' Nathan responded casually he didn't want to be anywhere in the back of the car with Peyton and Jake fighting.

'Haley, I have so much to tell you. Shall we go sit?' Brooke asked her and smiled at her friend.

'Oh no, Haley called shot gun.' Nathan replied. 'Sorry, you will have to talk her ear off when we get there.' There was such a finality to Nathan's tone that no one questioned him. A few raised eyebrows meet his words though. With that everyone clambered into the car and they set off. The cabin was about three hours away. The first hour of the drive was relatively quiet. Jake and Peyton were ignoring each other and Brooke had fallen asleep on Luke's shoulder. Nathan was driving away and Haley was merely watching everything go by outside. It was when Nathan had picked another musician on his IPod to listen too when Haley finally broke the silence in the car.

'You can't be serious?' she asked Nathan and turned to look at him.

'What?' he asked confused. She pointed at his IPod.

'You have terrible taste in music.' She stated flatly. All they had been listening to was rap and not good rap either.

'I do not-'

'Yeah you do,' came Peyton's reply from the back.

'Have to agree,' Jake added.

'Haley tells the truth!' Lucas said after Jake.

'See?' Haley said and gestured to the back and laughed. Nathan groaned.

'Well, what would you suggest we listen to? ' Nathan shot out and this time he wasn't just speaking to Haley.

'I have my IPod-' Peyton began to suggest.

'I veto that,' Nathan said and quickly looked at Peyton. 'All your stuff is depressing. No offence.' Nathan added in.

'How is that not offensive?' Peyton asked him in a huff.

'What about Brooke's IPod?' Haley suggested quickly moving the topic away from Peyton. 'She's neutral territory; everybody likes her taste in music.'

'She's asleep though. I don't want to wake her up to ask her for it.' Lucas replied and Haley sighed.

'Well, how about the radio?' Reluctantly everybody agreed to listen to the radio. Haley switched over to a radio station and within seconds everyone was laughing. The radio station was playing rap, which was almost as bad as the one Nathan had been listening too.

Two hours later Nathan pulled up a gravel driveway and stopped in front of a two storey wooden cabin. Haley got out the car and stared around, the view was breathtaking. There were trees all around and on the drive in they had passed a few hiking trails. The air was fresh, and everything was just beautiful.

'Wow,' Haley said as everyone slowly got out of the car. 'Karen really did us a huge favour.'

'Shall we head in?' Lucas asked looking around. Everyone had the same look of awe on their faces that was on his. They gathered their bags while Luke unlocked the door. He let the door swing open and looked in. The place was beautiful he stepped inside and let everyone else in. There was a lounge, with luxurious chairs, a TV, a beautiful fireplace and huge windows that looked onto a breathtaking view. Just off the lounge was a kitchen, with granite counters and cherry wood cupboards. There were two bedrooms down stairs and as they headed up the stairs, which had an elaborately carved rail, they found the rest of the bedrooms. Each had its own en suite bathroom. The rooms were elegantly decorated with a double bed and emerald curtains, and tall windows. Everything about this house was luxurious. Although there were enough bedrooms for everyone upstairs, Nathan had picked one of the downstairs room, Haley took a room to herself in the far corner upstairs, Brooke and Lucas picked a room together and so did Jake and Peyton. Once they had each dropped their bags off they went outside, there was crystal blue pool that they were surprised to find was heated. Not that a heated pool was needed in this weather. Nathan's downstairs room had double doors that opened out onto the pool area. They found a sign at a path going away from the pool which said "Jacuzzi" they walked down the path and few minutes later emerged into an open clearing with a Jacuzzi which overlooked a view of trees and mountains and clear blue sky.

'This place is amazing,' Brooke exclaimed with happiness. 'What should we do first?'

'Get food?' Nathan suggested.

'I second that.' Lucas said. Jake and Peyton looked at each other and then at the group.

'Yeah, let's do food.' Peyton said moodily and then turned and left. Jake sighed.

'Dude, what did you do?' Lucas asked Jake when Peyton was out of earshot. Nathan laughed and the girls couldn't help the smiles that had formed on their faces.

'It's a long story,' Jake ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

'Look, give Brooke and me a few minutes to talk to her and then we'll all go out to get food.'

'Thanks.' Jake said earnestly to Haley who nodded.

'Yeah, if we can't talk the moody out of her, then we'll just get her drunk.' Brooke helpfully added and headed down the path. Haley laughed and followed after Brooke. The boys stared at each other.

'Feel like exploring a bit more?' Jake asked Lucas and Nathan who agreed.

* * *

'Pey, what's going on?' Brooke asked opening the door and entering without knocking. The blonde looked at the pretty brunette and then threw her hands up in irritation.

'It's nothing,' Peyton said and looked steadily at Brooke. Haley shut the room door.

'It doesn't seem like nothing. Come on, Peyton, spill.' Haley added and settled down on the bed.

'Jake and I are just having a disagreement about what is considered to be lying.'

'Did Jake lie to you?' Brooke asked and raised an eyebrow.

'He forgot to tell me that he ran into his ex the other day,' Peyton shot out and the anger was apparent.

'Did he genuinely forget?'It was Haley who spoke up.

'He says so,' Peyton said but it was clear she didn't believe him.

'Why is it a problem?' Brooke asked and both girls turned to look at her.

'What do you mean?' Peyton asked Brooke incredulously.

'Well, the Peyton I know isn't bothered by ex's and would have had a little fight about this and got over it,' Brooke paused and motioned her hands up and down Peyton. 'But you are fuming, so what's the real issue?' Peyton flopped onto the bed next to Haley, she looked a bit defeated.

'It's his unrequited love,' Peyton said and then carried on when she noticed the confused looks on the other girls faces. 'The one who left to early, his first choice!" Peyton finished and she looked down unhappily.

'Oh Pey,' Brooke said and went to sit down next to her. 'I don't think you are anyone's second choice. Ever. Especially not Jake's.'

'I think you need to tell him how you really feel.' Haley said. 'Argue this out with him else this feeling will get worst.'

'But before you do that,' Brooke said and nudged Peyton. 'Come get food with us and let's just have a good day.' Peyton looked at Brooke and then Haley and she gave them a small smile.

'Ok, I'll try.'

'That's our girl.' Brooke said and stood up. 'Let's go find the boys. I am starving.'

* * *

They had driven to a cute little restaurant not far from where they were staying, you could actually walk to the restaurant from the cabin if you wanted too. Haley discovered they made the most delicious pancakes and she made a mental note to go back before they left. After that they found a little store and bought some food to stock up in the house. Then they stocked up on alcohol. After that they returned to the cabin. Peyton and Jake decided to go on a walk to talk. Brooke and Lucas went to swim. Haley changed in to a bikini, took a book and went to suntan on the deck. Nathan went for a run and then came back to watch a game. Thirty minutes later Haley turned over and looked at Lucas and Brooke who were smiling in a very flirty way at each other. She put her top and shorts back on and went on inside. She went straight to the kitchen and poured herself a drink, Haley had made sure they had bought some none alcoholic beverages too. She was standing at the counter, and found that she could see Nathan. He looked so intense while watching the TV. She actually wondered what he was watching, she went back to the fridge and poured him a drink too. She walked over to the couch and sat down next to him. Nathan felt the added pressure to the couch and looked to his left. Haley held out a glass for him and he took it.

'Thanks,' he said as he took a sip.

'What are you watching?' Haley asked him and turned her attention to the TV.

'It's an old basketball match. This channel has been playing reruns this whole day.' Haley nodded and then reached across Nathan. The top she was wearing lifted a bit as she leaned across him and once again Nathan couldn't help but want to touch her back. He was distracted, so it took him a few moments longer than normal to realise she had grabbed the remote.

'Haley, what are you doing?' Nathan asked when she settled back next to him.

'Broadening your horizons,' she said and quickly changed the channel.

'Hales,' Nathan said firmly and he tried to grab the remote back from her. She moved it out of his grasp and giggled. He grabbed her wrist but Haley took the remote in her other hand and held it behind her back.

'You're away for the weekend, let's get your mind off basketball for a bit.'

'I don't want it off basketball.'

'Good thing I didn't ask what you wanted,' Haley replied and winked at Nathan. 'You haven't even gone outside. So either you watch something different with me or you go on a walk.' Nathan considered this.

'I went for a run earlier,' and he cocked his head to the side. 'That counts as going outside.'

'Why did you go for a run?' Haley asked him and maneuvered a bit, Nathan was still holding her wrist and slowly he was pulling her closer to him.

'Coach likes-' Nathan began but Haley interrupted.

'See basketball influenced you going for a run!' Nathan shook his head and in one swift movement he had closed any space there was between him and Haley. He was still holding her one wrist, and not taking his eyes from hers he snaked his other arm around her back. He trailed his hand up her forearm but she twisted before he could firmly grab the remote.

'Haley, I will tickle the remote away from you if I have too,' Nathan said seriously he still had one hand on her wrist and the other on her arm that was still behind her back. Haley laughed but there was a clear tension between the two of them now. They hadn't broken eye contact.

'We won't watch something girly,' Haley said in reply. 'And I can withstand tickling.' Nathan considered this.

'What will we watch?'

'You'll see,' Haley said and shifted. Just then they could hear Peyton and Jake yelling at each other, they had evidently returned from their walk. Although it didn't exactly make them jump apart from each other, it did change the atmosphere between them.

'If I don't like what you pick,' Nathan said and paused, he removed his hand that was holding her wrist but not the one holding the arm behind her back. 'I'm going to tickle you until you can't breathe you are laughing so much.' Peyton and Jake's voices were getting closer and louder causing Nathan to finally let go of Haley completely. She shifted, smiled at him and the next moment changed the channel. Nathan was then surprised to find she had picked a horror movie.

* * *

Brooke gave Lucas a kiss on the cheek and he pulled her closer. 'Can you hear that?' she asked him and ran her hand through his hair. He nodded.

'It seems Jake and Peyton have returned,' Lucas said with a slight laugh to his voice. Just then they heard a door slam.

'It's a good thing this place has extra rooms.' Brooke replied and then checked the time, the afternoon had gone past quickly without them even having realised. She stood up and stretched out.

'Shall we head inside and go spend some time with Haley and Nathan?' Brooke asked and held out her hand for Lucas. He took it and stood up.

'In a minute,' he then leaned down and pulled her into a kiss, entangling his one hand in her hair and pulling her closer to him. Nearly every part of their bodies were touching, it was hard for them to concentrate on anything else but each other in that moment. Eventually Luke broke the kiss gently.

'I'm actually starving let's go see Haley and Nathan and figure out what we are doing for dinner.' Brooke smiled and nodded. The two went inside and stopped behind the couch Nathan and Haley were sitting on.

'What the hell is that?' Brooke stated and startled the other two. They turned around on the couch to look at her.

'A decapitated head,' Nathan eventually responded.

'Which is what you get if you are silly enough to run upstairs, instead of outside when a serial killer is chasing you.' Haley added and the two turned back to the TV.

'There must be something better to watch on-' Luke had started.

'No!' Haley and Nathan said at the same time.

'Unless you count basketball,' Nathan added and shot a cheeky look at Haley.

'Which I don't!' Haley replied and then she and Nathan burst out laughing at the current scene of the movie.

'Alright, enough,' Brooke said and went to stand in front of the TV. 'You can't watch TV the whole weekend. Come on we are going to go sort out dinner.' Brooke said and turned to switch the TV off.

'You're very bossy,' Nathan said to Brooke and stood up. 'Do your job better, Man.' He added to Lucas.

'I was enjoying that,' Haley said and tried to turn the TV back on.

'Well, now you can enjoy spending time with us.' Brooke said and marched into the kitchen. Lucas followed behind her; giving Nathan a scowl as he passed.

'I really feel like we got the raw deal this weekend,' Haley said to Nathan before they followed the other two.

'You mean you don't enjoy coming on a glorified couples retreat and getting bossed around by a tiny brunette?' Nathan sarcastically said.

'Haley!' Brooke yelled from the kitchen.

'Coming!' Haley yelled back and shook her head. She smiled at Nathan before walking to the kitchen. Truthfully she was enjoying spending the time with Nathan. She was happy to find out he found horror movies as ridiculous as she did. It was comfortable and fun with him. Nathan watched Haley walk away, he was having a good time with her and he didn't want it to end. He was finding that, more and more he just wanted to be around her, doing things with her.

The rest of the night was spent with the four of them making dinner, having some drinks and just having fun together. Eventually Peyton and Jake came and joined them. Peyton went to bed early though and Jake continued to spend the evening with the rest of them, not saying much about what was going on between him and Peyton.

* * *

**Saturday**

Everyone had woken up early that morning for a hike. Much to Brooke's displeasure who wanted to sleep in, by the time they got back it was significantly hotter than when they had woken up. They had all decided to take a quick shower and then go for breakfast. Following that, they came back and split up. Haley and Peyton went off to explore a bit, Brooke and Lucas went to the Jacuzzi and Jake and Nathan went off somewhere. Around lunch time Haley and Peyton went back to the cabin, Haley was beginning to wonder where everyone else had gone when Jake and Nathan returned. They made their way over to the girls and then an awkward silence fell between the four of them. Haley looked from Peyton to Jake and then to Nathan. She gave him an uncomfortable look.

'Hey Jake,' Nathan finally said and walked over to where he had put his car keys. He threw them at Jake. 'Why don't you and Peyton go for lunch.' A clear message of "and sort out what's going on between the two of you" was evident from the way he had suggested they go for lunch.

'Thanks.' Jake said and nodded. He walked over to Peyton and took her hand much to her surprise. 'I could use some lunch.' He added and then Haley was surprised to see Jake give Peyton a kiss on her temple and that she let him. Peyton and Jake left quickly after that. When they were gone Haley looked over at Nathan who had taken a seat on the couch.

'That was nice of you,' Haley said and went to sit opposite him.

'Yeah, Jake told me what's been happening. They just need time to really hash things out.' Then he sighed in frustration. Something which Haley noticed.

'What's wrong?'

'I'm starving and there isn't much to eat in the cabin. Which wouldn't be a problem if Jake and Peyton didn't have my car.' Haley laughed.

'We have sandwich stuff.' She then started to look around. 'Have you seen Brooke and Lucas?' Nathan shook his head.

'Not since this morning,' he then got up. 'I'm going to go make a sandwich,' he hesitated for just a moment. 'Would you like one?' Haley shook her head.

'No, I'm going to go read outside.' Nathan was surprised to feel a bit disappointed at Haley's reply. She gave him a small smile, got her book and then went outside.

* * *

**2 hours later**

Lucas looked over at Brooke and handed her a bottle of water. They were lying on sun beds on the deck that was constructed by the Jacuzzi. Lucas had made sure to bring some snacks, sandwiches and drinks with them. They were having a great time outside. Brooke took the bottle of water and smiled at Lucas.

'It's hot,' she said. She opened her water and drank half of it. Lucas properly looked at her; she was in a red bikini and had her hair tied up. He had never thought a girl looked as beautiful as he thought Brooke did. 'You're staring at me.' Brooke said a moment later.

'Sorry,' Luke smiled at her and moved over to her sun bed. Brooke made space for him.

'What are you thinking, Handsome?' Brooke asked him and tilted her head at him. Luke didn't respond, he merely just pulled her into a kiss. Brooke slipped onto his lap and ran a hand up his back. The intensity between them was there again. She pulled a bit away but Luke kept lightly kissing her.

'I think I'm going to go have a shower,' Brooke mumbled out and then sunk back into the kiss. Luke pulled slightly away as Brooke began to kiss his neck.

'I think that sounds like an excellent idea,' he replied and Brooke stopped kissing him. She gave him a questioning look and a sultry smile.

'Are you saying-'

'I'm not saying anything anymore,' Luke said and slipped Brooke off him and then stood up. 'I want to show you now.' Brooke immediately jumped up, she helped him gather everything they had with them, and they quickly made their way down the path back to the cabin. Lucas had his hand around the small of her back and Brooke was smiling up at him. They were back inside the cabin in record time. As soon as they entered the door, Brooke dropped everything she was holding and so did Lucas. He then pulled her into a kiss. She giggled and they quickly ran upstairs. Not noticing Nathan, at all, who had been getting a drink from the kitchen. Still in a kiss, Lucas managed to open their room door. Once inside Brooke pushed him up against a wall. She could feel him running his hand down the side of her stomach and then slowly up, she had her hands on his chest. Her senses were overrun currently. Then suddenly he was kissing the side of her neck. She entangled her one hand in his hair, pulling ever so slightly. Eventually with an exceptional amount of will, Brooke stopped him. Lucas looked at her confused. She was running her one hand down his stomach, feeling all his muscles.

'Let's go to the shower.' Brooke gasped out as Lucas began to trace patterns on the small of her back. He smiled at her. She bit her lip and then stalked off into the bathroom. Lucas could hear the shower turn on and didn't waste any more time standing against the wall. There was a beautiful girl waiting for him, a beautiful naked girl, he discovered when he entered into the bathroom and saw Brooke already in the shower.

* * *

Haley got tired of reading; she was bored now and wanted to go do something. Maybe Brooke and Lucas had returned. She closed her book and went back inside; she had been tempted to walk through the glass doors that lead into Nathan's room to get back in. But she figured, if he was in there, that may have been awkward. However when she entered the coolness of the cabin she found Nathan sprawled out on the couch looking as bored as she felt.

'Are Brooke and Lucas back?' she asked him catching his attention. The grin that spread across his face at the question made Haley very curious. 'What?' she asked him and walked further into the room.

'They've been back for awhile,' he said and Haley could tell he was trying not to laugh. 'They just haven't left their room since.' Haley's eyes widen.

'You don't mean?'

'They were practically on top of each other when they came back, Hales.' Haley laughed and sat down.

'Well,' she looked up. 'This is a bit awkward…'

'I don't think they care.' Nathan added and Haley laughed. She doubted very much that Brooke and Lucas cared about anything other than Brooke and Lucas currently.

'And Jake and Peyton definitely aren't back yet,' Haley said. She had noticed the car was still not there when she came back inside. She looked back over to Nathan and found him staring intently at her. His look was intoxicating. 'You think they will be back in time for us to go out and get something for dinner?'

'I really doubt it, Hales. Those two seem like they have a lot to talk about.' Haley threw her hands up.

'I thought this wasn't going to be a couple's weekend.' Haley huffed out and Nathan laughed. She stood up.

'I guess, I will go make something to eat and go back to reading.' Haley had walked out of the lounge and into the kitchen before Nathan could respond. An idea had suddenly struck him. In one smooth motion he got off the couch he had been on and walked into the kitchen. Haley shut a cupboard and looked over at him.

'We really should have shopped a bit better,' she said and tried not to concentrate on the fact that Nathan had followed her into the kitchen. He had walked over to the fridge and a moment later turned to her and held up a bottle of alcohol.

'I have an idea,' he said and walked over to her. She was leaning against the counter and Nathan was standing in front of her. He was awfully close to her. He held up the bottle of alcohol. 'Drink with me?' Haley cocked her head to the side and looked curiously at Nathan.

'That,' she began and pointed to the blue bottle of alcohol in his hand, 'is a shooter.'

'Don't you do shots, Hales?' he asked her cheekily. 'Come on, it will be a lot more fun than staying here, while Brooke and Lucas have sex.' Haley cringed slightly.

'I don't know, Nate-'

'Give me one good reason why not, Hales.' She considered him carefully. They were out here to have fun and currently the only person around to have fun with was Nathan. Not that she really minded that. She shrugged.

'Ok, Nathan, I don't see why not,' she moved off the counter putting herself even closer to Nathan. 'But I want the other bottle.' Nathan raised an eyebrow. Haley moved passed him, brushing her arm against his on the way, she could feel goose bumps run up her arm and down her spine. She opened the fridge and took out another bottle of alcohol. It was also meant for shots.

'I prefer this one,' she said turning to face Nathan. She held up the bottle she had just taken from the fridge.

'Who knew, Haley James had a preference when it came to shots.' She shot him a look and smiled.

'There is a lot you don't know about me, Nathan Scott,' Nathan walked over to her.

'I plan on changing that tonight.' Haley was gazing up into his grey blue eyes and liked the challenge she saw in them. He instinctively reached down and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. The motion seemed to startle him when he realised what he had done. He then looked down at the shoes she was wearing.

'You'll need to put on more comfortable shoes,' Nathan said and took a step back. Haley nodded, she didn't even question why. Nathan had caught her off guard and she wanted a moment to recover herself. She left and returned a few minutes later having changed into sneakers, jeans and a black and silver v-neck top. She found Nathan waiting for her at the door.

'Hear anything while you were upstairs?' Nathan asked her as she reached him. Her hair was down and the clothes she was wearing, although casual, looked good on her. Then Nathan stopped himself from noticing her too much. She laughed at the question and then shook out her shoulders.

'Thankfully, I didn't.'

'Let's go,' Nathan said and held the door open for her.

'Where exactly are we going?' Haley asked looking behind her at him. She loved the dark blue top he was wearing, it brought out his eyes and didn't hide the fact that he was well built.

'To find dinner.' Nathan replied in a matter of fact way. He then unscrewed the lid on the bottle of alcohol he was holding and took a sip. He had started with the bottle Haley had chosen. They had begun walking down the path that led up to the cabin. He then gave the bottle to Haley and she took it from him, taking a sip herself.

'We need a rule,' Haley said and looked at Nathan quickly. 'Or a game for the drinking.'

'Ideas, Hales?' They were walking towards the little town where they normally had breakfast at. Haley knew the sun would be setting soon. She wondered if walking was the smartest idea.

'Your choice, Scott.' Haley said trying to keep her worry from spoiling the fun.

'Ok, every time I ask you a question that you don't want to answer we will both drink,' Nathan said casually.

'Do I not get to ask you questions?' Haley eyed him curiously.

'We'll see how it goes,' Nathan replied and shrugged. 'You have to remember I'm trying to get to know the girl who spent a night at my place.' Haley laughed.

'You really have to stop saying it like that,' Haley said and held out her hand for the bottle of alcohol. 'Alrigh,t I think I'll just drink some of this before we start.' Nathan laughed and had a sip after her.

'So question one,' Nathan said and looked at her seriously. 'How many boys rooms have you spent nights at?' Haley laughed and held out her hand for the bottle of shooters back.

'If you keep asking me questions like that,' Haley paused and took her sip from the bottle. 'We are going to get drunk very quickly.' Haley handed the bottle back to Nathan and he took his sip too.

'Maybe that's what I'm trying to do!' Nathan cheekily replied and then began to think of his second question.

* * *

Brooke lay naked in bed. She looked over at Lucas and gave him a wide smile.

'Will you run down and grab us a snack?' Brooke asked him seriously. She was actually rather hungry. Lucas began to draw patterns on her skin.

'As long as you promise not to put clothes on,' Lucas said and kissed her forehead. He got out of bed and pulled on his shorts.

'Scouts honour,' Brooke replied happily. 'Thank you.' She said as he left the room. She sighed happily the afternoon had been perfect and a lot of fun and she was sure the night was going to be even more fun.

* * *

'Oh come on, Hales!' Nathan exclaimed. They had drunk a lot of the bottle so far and had just reached the small street that had the only restaurants around for awhile. They were both tipsy.

'What?' she shot him a look. 'You asked the question!'

'That wasn't an acceptable answer,' Nathan shot back.

'You didn't say they had to be acceptable!' Haley replied and they both laughed. Nathan gave her the bottle of alcohol.

'Drink,' he said pointing at the bottle. 'Twice. For that pathetic answer.'

'I answered the question,' Haley said while unscrewing the lid to the alcohol. 'You asked me what my favourite position was. You didn't specify sex position.'

'You gave me your favourite yoga position, Hales. Why would I want to know that?'

'Why would you want to know what my favourite sex position is?'

'Because it's fun!'

'I think arguing with you is kind of fun.' Haley replied and drank from the bottle. She handed it to Nathan, he drank without any arguments. Suddenly Haley stopped walking and Nathan had walked a few steps in front of her before realising. He then back tracked and looked at what Haley was staring at. It was a bakery.

'I just want baked goods for dinner,' she said entering the store. 'And maybe pizza.' They walked in and started choosing cakes and desserts. They were laughing so much when they reached the counter, that it took the lady five attempts to get their attention. After that they went and got pizza. They sat at the restaurant, putting the bottle of alcohol in the back pack Nathan had brought with. They ordered some alcoholic drinks to continue with the fun and then two medium sized pizzas. They spent a good hour and half at the restaurant. When they left the restaurant it was dark.

'I don't suppose you brought a torch?' Haley asked and watched as Nathan shook his head. She shrugged it was a full moon out anyway. Not to mention there were some lights along the way back to the cabin.

'You're a lot of fun, Hales.' Nathan said as they began walking back.

'You sound so surprised,' she replied back while looking up at the moon. It was a beautiful night.

'No,' he paused and considered his words. 'I just haven't really seen this side of you.'

'Why would you have? We weren't exactly close.'

'And why weren't we close? You are Brooke's friend after all.' Haley paused and looked at Nathan seriously.

'I think being Luke's best friend had something to do with it.' They had reached a side path that would lead up to the cabin.

'I think we need to drink more,' Nathan said taking a bottle out of his bag. This time it was the one he had picked out. He took a sip and gave it to Haley. She shrugged and took a sip too. Truthfully, they had drunk quite a lot and they were passed the stage of tipsy and were full on drunk now. They were walking up, when Nathan noticed a clearing; he took Haley's hand and pulled her into it. She glanced around it and then up at the stars. Suddenly, she felt Nathan tugging her hand and pulling her closer. Sometime, without Haley noticing, he had removed the back pack. She looked up at him.

'What now?' Nathan smiled and then spun Haley out. She laughed.

'We dance,' Nathan said pulling her back to him.

'There isn't any music, Nathan.'

'So, we'll dance and talk.' Haley smiled at him and Nathan took that as a yes. He still held her one hand and slipped his other around her waist. He began to move with her. Haley wrapped her hands around his neck.

'This is silly,' she said and then gave a small laugh. 'Speaking of, what is the silliest thing you've ever done?' Nathan took awhile to think of the answer to that question.

'I got really drunk once and decided to sleep in the basketball court. My coach found me the next morning. Let's just say he never let me forget it.' He spun Haley out once again and caught her.

'What is the one thing you would really like to do right now?' Haley asked once she was back in Nathan's arms dancing with him.

'Hmmm,' Nathan looked at Haley. He would like to kiss her. He would really like to kiss her. But he figured saying so wouldn't be the best idea. 'I would really like to swim.' Haley stopped dancing and smiled at him.

'Well, come on!' she said and took a hold of his hand and began walking. He quickly grabbed the back pack off the grass. She was walking with determination now.

'Where are we going?' Nathan asked her.

'To swim!' Haley exclaimed. 'Before you don't feel like it anymore.' They took a few more sips of the alcohol and then five minutes later Haley could see the cabin. She looked at Nathan.

'I'll race you!' she said and before Nathan could respond she had started running. He laughed and quickly followed after her. She moved passed the side of the cabin and stopped running when she reached the pool area. It was lightly lit and the moon added a glow to it. Everything looked really pretty. Nathan reached her a moment later, he was standing behind her and he didn't know why but he put his arms around her waist.

'You cheated,' he said into her ear and Haley giggled. She turned around to face Nathan, who hadn't let go of her waist.

'Don't be a sore loser,' she winked at him and he laughed. She really enjoyed the contact with Nathan; everywhere he touched her sent a spark of electricity through her body. She looked at the water and then took a step back. Nathan let her go and she bent down to take her shoes and socks off.

'What are you doing?' Nathan asked her curiously.

'I thought we were going swimming?' Nathan cocked his head to the side and then nodded. He then quickly took his top off and Haley laughed.

'What?' Nathan said suddenly feeling self conscious.

'Nothing, it's just,' Haley began and pointed at him. She was tracing every muscle of his with her eyes. 'I understand now why girls literally throw themselves at you.' Nathan opened his mouth to respond but was cut off when Haley took her top off. Revealing a black bra, a flat stomach and very smooth skin, Nathan couldn't take his eyes off her, and here she was taking her clothes off in front of him. A second later his mouth went dry when she slipped her jeans off. Black panties to match the lacy bra, his eyes trailed down to her legs. He finally looked back up at he,r catching her gaze, he only had a second to take in her smile and how her golden hair fell perfectly when she ran and jumped into the pool. She emerged a second later.

'Are you coming?' Nathan had been frozen to the spot. Her words caught his attention. He nodded, took his shorts off, revealing boxers and then jumped into the pool. The water was the best temperature, not to warm and not to cold. Haley was floating and was glad to find that the water was actually sobering her up a bit. Nathan took a breath and swam a length of the pool. He liked the feel of the water against his skin, he felt hot and it was cooling him down. Not to mention sobering him up a bit. He emerged after a length and looked at Haley floating. He swam over to her and when he reached her, he splashed her with water. She began to tread water and looked at him.

'Nathan Scott, do not start a water fight!' he responded by splashing her with more water. She splashed water back and then the two were in a full blown water fight. Eventually Haley, tired of getting dunked and splashed with water, went under and swam to the other side of the pool. She smiled at Nathan from there.

'Ok enough,' she said and leaned against the side of the pool. Nathan watched her in the moonlight and knew what he wanted to do, what he wanted to for awhile. And for the first time he didn't stop himself. He figured the alcohol was finally letting him think all of the things, he had been trying so hard to stop thinking. He swam over to her. Nathan could stand on this side of the pool. He stood in front of her and caught her gaze.

'Nathan-' she began but was caught off guard by him pulling her into a kiss. She was stunned for a few seconds but then responded. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she had put arms around his neck. She could feel his one hand slide up her back. The kiss was hot; the two didn't stop for anything. It was like they hadn't been able to do this for years and were finally getting what they wanted. Haley moaned and Nathan shifted her a bit, she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. Nathan, who felt Haley bite his bottom lip a bit, got a better hold on her. He then began walking them to the steps of the pool. Without breaking the kiss at all, he walked out the pool with Haley still wrapped around him. Her one arm was gripping his upper arm and her touch was driving him crazy. He walked straight over to the double glass doors that lead to his bedroom, he slid the one open and walked into his room, closing the door behind him. How he managed to do this, with Haley still in his arms, he wasn't quite sure. But the only thing he really cared about right now was Haley and getting to touch and feel more of her. Haley took a breath and leaned her head back as Nathan kissed her neck. She was currently pressed against a wall, with her legs still wrapped around his waist. Then she felt him trail a hand up her side and go to her back. He moved her off the wall and at the same time un-clipped her bra. He went to the bed and sat down. Haley was sitting in his lap now, she moved so she could remove her bra completely. She looked at Nathan and could see the fire behind his eyes, she could still taste that salty taste of his on her lips and he was busy lightly trailing his hands across her skin. In short he was driving her crazy. She pushed him down onto the bed and brought him into another kiss. The intensity still there and still increasing. She ran her mouth down all the way from his neck, across his stomach to his waist. Haley then looked up and in one swift movement removed Nathan's underwear, there was no going back now and neither of them wanted to. Nathan took charge of the situation then, flipping Haley over. He didn't want to rush this, he wanted to savour every moment…

* * *

**A/N: And there is still a whole day left in the cabin. On a completely unrelated note, although I didn't write it in even fictional characters should practice safe sex, so well not mentioned in the story, even the fictional characters used condoms! Haha! **


	11. The Morning After

**A/N: Enjoy. Please review!**

**Chapter 11: The Morning After**

Haley was beginning to gain consciousness; slowly she could feel herself waking up. She could also feel her head resting on a shoulder and arm wrapped around her. Her skin was hot but she could feel a breeze coming from somewhere and she had to admit it felt nice. She was of course still naked. She took a minute to just enjoy the feel of the breeze on her back and the arm wrapped around her. Then she opened her eyes, at first all she could think was that the room was really bright. Then she looked up at Nathan he was still fast asleep. Haley could remember everything from the previous night, but before she could let herself feel panicked, she knew she had to get back to her room before someone else in the house saw her and Nathan. Gently she began to shift out of his hold, which proved to be more difficult than she had expected, because Nathan kept pulling her closer to him every time she moved. Eventually she managed to slip out of his arms and was grateful when he kept sleeping. She stood up and looked around the room, her underwear was here but she realised that her clothes were still out by the pool. She quickly put her underwear back on and then spotted a top of Nathan's, she threw that on and then went to the glass doors that lead out to the pool deck. She quietly slid the door open, as soon as she stepped outside she groaned. She was hungover as hell, and the brightness outside wasn't helping. She looked around, her clothes, Nathan's clothes and the back pack was still outside. She quickly and quietly grabbed it all and then she went back inside Nathan's room. He was still sound asleep and as he turned, the sheet he had wrapped around him, shifted a bit and Haley could suddenly see all of his chest and stomach muscles. _Wow, he was hot _Haley thought to herself and then mentally scolded herself. Now was not the time to be thinking of these things, the others would be awake soon enough and she didn't want to run into them leaving Nathan's room. She changed back into her clothes, left Nathan's top and clothes on a chair and then left the room still holding the back pack. She mentally kicked herself when she realised she hadn't left the back pack in his room. She opened it and saw the alcohol and baked goods in it, she went to the kitchen put the box of the baked goods on the counter, she took the alcohol out, was surprised to see how much they had actually drunk and then put the bottles back in the fridge. She then froze as she thought she heard a door open upstairs, instinctively she decided to go back to Nathan's room, she opened his door and shut it behind her leaning against it. She dropped the back pack on the floor and closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking a deep breath to calm down. She could hear the door upstairs open and close again. _This would be a good time to go back to my room. _Haley had her hand on the handle when a voice stopped her.

'Hales?' Nathan had mumbled out; she turned around to see that he was half sitting up and staring at her. Haley opened her mouth to say something, shook her head and then just opened the door and left. She went straight for the stairs, wishing she had picked the other room on the downstairs level. She reached her room door and had just opened it when Brooke's and Lucas's door swung open. She raced into her room, shut her door and locked it. She didn't think they had seen her but her heart was racing. As she started to calm down, her thoughts about last night started to overrun her mind. _What the hell had she done? She wasn't supposed to have sex again like this? And with NATHAN? _She tried to stop the thoughts and entered her bathroom, she figured a shower would help with getting her head together and to help ease the hangover. She was right as soon as the water hit her she felt better about things. _So she had a moment weakness, it was the alcohol. The next time she had sex it would be with someone who meant the world to her or who she was marrying. How was she supposed to act with Nathan now? Normal, go back to how it was a month ago before Nathan somehow became more involved in your life. _She began to shampoo her hair and firmly decided that yes she would just act with Nathan how she used to before he saved her from Drew, meaning barely acknowledging each other. A pang of disappointment hit her when she decided that but she pushed it aside, she stepped right into the cascading water and closed her eyes. Letting the shampoo run out of her hair, as she did her mind went back to the previous evening and she could feel Nathan touching her and she could feel what she had felt last night all over again. The sex had been electrifying and she had enjoyed every moment she had spent with Nathan last night. She groaned _what the hell was going on with her? _She turned off the water to the shower, stepped out and got dressed. She wanted to leave the cabin, needed to before she had to face Nathan, she wasn't ready for that. She wasn't sure if she ever would be ready for that!

* * *

Lucas woke up and pulled Brooke closer to him; he placed a kiss on her shoulder and then trailed kisses up her neck to her cheek. She stirred and turned around in his arms.

'Morning pretty,' Lucas said to her and she smiled. He leaned down then and pulled her into a proper kiss. She giggled and broke apart from him, she felt stiff but in a good kind of way.

'We should probably leave the room this morning,' Brooke paused and wrapped her arms around Luke's neck. 'And I really want breakfast.'

'Mmm, in a little bit.' Luke said and kissed her once again. The kiss was getting pretty intense when Brooke heard a noise.

'What is that?' She asked breaking apart from Lucas. He shrugged.

'Someone's probably awake,' he said trying to kiss her again but she playfully moved away from them.

'Ok then, I'm going to go shower and would you please make us some coffee?' Brooke asked him in the sweetest voice she could muster. Lucas laughed.

'Sure.' They both got out of bed and as Brooke went into the bathroom, Luke left the room, he could have sworn he had seen Haley's door shut as he left his. He figured she had probably just been downstairs getting something from the kitchen. He thought nothing more of it and went to make coffee for him and Brooke. His thoughts went to the previous day, it had been incredible. They had spent the rest of the day in the room, having sex, sometimes just talking, they even watched a movie on his laptop and then they had fallen asleep. It was the best day Luke had had, well, ever. The way Brooke made him feel, was something he had never felt before. He couldn't explain it but he was so glad he had found her.

* * *

Nathan emerged from his shower and went to the mirror, he looked and felt a lot better. He kept replaying the previous evening in his head. He wanted to blame being completely hammered on what had happened between him and Haley but he _knew _that wasn't the case. That swim had sobered him up, maybe not completely, but enough that he knew exactly what he had been doing. Sure the alcohol had lowered his inhibitions and let him finally just kiss Haley like he had wanted too. But it had escalated and he was surprised; that part of the evening he could not forget or deny. He had never felt anything like that before, none of his other experiences had been like that, every time she touched him it was like she set his nerves on fire. He didn't want her to stop and he didn't want to stop touching, feeling, tasting her. Sex had never felt like that before for him. It was intense and the pleasure was indescribable. He didn't know why, but he knew it wasn't the alcohol. He had had sex before after partying and drinking and it wasn't anything like last night. A month ago Haley had barely been on his radar, and now she was there and Nathan had a feeling he wouldn't be able to shake her off it. Except there was one nagging thought playing on his mind, he had seen her face when he called her name this morning, the look on her face was a combination of terror and embarrassment. That was not a look of someone who wanted to acknowledge what had happened the previous evening. _I'm going to have a hell of a time convincing her last night wasn't a bad thing. _The thought shocked him a bit, realising that he wanted her not to view last night as a terrible thing. He got dressed and left the room, he would need to find some time to talk to her alone. He could hear voices coming from the kitchen, as he entered he saw Brooke, Lucas, Peyton and Jake. They had coffee and were eating some of the baked goods Nathan and Haley had gotten last night. He was painfully aware that Haley was not with them.

'Morning,' he said and chorus of mornings came back to him. He flinched a bit, he was hungover and all the voices didn't help.

'We were thinking of heading down for a proper breakfast,' Peyton began and packed her and Jake's coffee mugs in the dishwasher the cabin had. 'But we were waiting for you and Haley.' Nathan suddenly felt nervous.

'Have you seen her?' Brooke added.

'Who?' Nathan asked trying to keep his voice calm. He knew who they meant.

'Haley!' Brooke exclaimed in frustration. 'We checked her room but she wasn't there.'

'She's probably gone for a morning hike,' Luke added in. Nathan doubted that, no one felt like hiking after a night of drinking. His eyes shifted to Jake and Peyton who looked a lot happier, Jake had his hands wrapped around Peyton's waist and she was smiling up at him.

'Listen, let's just go,' Brooke started and took a hold of Luke's hands. 'We will text her and let her know where we are and we can bring her something back or come back and get her. It's a quick drive.' The other three nodded and Nathan just stayed still. He wasn't enjoying seeing all the happy couples when he felt like he did. He wanted to stay behind and find Haley but he thought better of it; she would have been here if she wanted to see them... _see him. _Also having coffee and greasy breakfast would at least get rid of his hangover. They piled into the car and made the short drive down to the restaurant they had been having breakfast at since they had arrived.

'Haley!' Brooke exclaimed as they entered the cute little restaurant. She pointed at a booth in the back. Everyone turned and they were surprised to see Haley sitting there with her face in her hands. They walked over to her and everyone piled into the booth. Brooke and Lucas slipped in next to her, Nathan was opposite her and Jake and Peyton was next to him. She looked up as they joined her and gave them a small smile.

'What are you doing here?' Brooke asked her cheerily. 'We texted you!'

'Oh,' Haley began to fidget with hands. 'I wanted breakfast and I left my phone at the cabin. Sorry.' It was true to a degree she had wanted breakfast but she had also wanted sometime to clear her head.

'How did you get here?' It was Peyton who had asked.

'I walked.' Haley said flatly. Peyton was about to say something else but was interrupted when a waitress came and handed Haley an iced coffee, huge glass of water and a stack of pancakes with strawberries. She looked at the five new people sitting with Haley went off and returned a moment later with menus. They all quickly placed orders as Haley started to eat her pancakes. She was feeling nervous and purposefully avoiding looking at Nathan even though she could feel his gaze on her. A silence had fallen between all of them. Haley glanced up and was surprised to see that Brooke was also staring at her.

'You two,' she said pointing at Haley and Nathan, 'look hungover.' Haley flinched at the words. There was no point in denying it they would see the alcohol in the fridge.

'That's because we are,' Haley said and watched the grin spread across Brooke's face.

'We did a lot of shots last night,' Nathan added and for the first time Haley glanced at him briefly. It sparked a tiny bit of relief in him.

'Really now?' Brooke exclaimed and leaned forward. 'Tell us what happened.' Haley looked lost for words so Nathan decided to answer.

'Well, we had to do something,' he pointed at Brooke and Lucas, 'well you two were _busy_ in your room,' he paused and pointed at Jake and Peyton. 'And these two were busy sorting out things. We were bored so we drank together.' Luke had flushed a bit at Nathan's word but Brooke looked unabashed.

'Yeah sorry about that,' Brooke said cheerily.

'Don't be, I had fun with Haley.' Nathan said causing Haley to glance back up at him, he could see a slight flush forming across her cheeks.

'Really-' Brooke began but Haley interrupted her.

'I'm glad to see you two sorted out things out.' Haley said to Peyton and Jake. They turned to smile at each other and Jake kissed Peyton on the cheek.

'Yeah, it took nearly all of last night,' Jake said. 'But we're good now.' Just then the waitress arrived and started handing out drinks and food to the others. A silence fell as everyone began to eat. Nathan who had ordered, scrambled eggs, bacon and pancakes, ate for a few minutes without looking at anything but his food. It was painful sitting across from Haley being unable to talk to her. Just then they both looked up at each other. Nathan had a pleading look in his eyes; Haley could feel her whole body tense. She wanted to leave the restaurant but it would spur too many questions. Nathan opened his mouth to say something but Haley gave a small shake of her head. Small talk had started up at the table again. Brooke and Peyton were talking about some band and Luke and Jake were talking about basketball practice. Nathan was itching to reach out to Haley. She had finished eating and was just sitting there quietly.

'How are you feeling?' Nathan asked her casually, the question was neutral enough. Haley looked a bit taken aback but held Nathan's gaze.

'I'm ok,' she said and rubbed the back of her neck. 'Breakfast helped a lot.' Nathan leaned a bit forward.

'You were gone this morning-' Nathan had begun a bit quieter.

'Nathan,' Haley said firmly, the start of his question wouldn't raise suspicion as she had left before all of them but she knew the underlying the message. 'I think I'm going to get some Aspirin.' She said the last part a bit louder than was necessary. She turned to Brooke and Lucas. 'Sorry guys, do you mind letting me out so I can run and get some Aspirin from the supermarket?' Brooke smiled at her and laughed.

'Not at all,' Brooke replied cheekily. She was enjoying seeing a hungover Haley. They both slipped out of the booth and she quickly left. As soon as she was outside she felt better, she had began walking to the store when she felt someone grab her arm. She jumped and turned around to see Nathan.

'Nathan, what are you doing?'

'I told them I wanted some stuff from the store too,' he looked at Haley seriously, he hadn't let go of her arm. 'Haley, we have to talk about last night.'

'There is nothing to talk about, Nathan.'

'Yes there is, Hales. We slept-'

'I know what we did, Nathan!' Haley snapped. 'And we shouldn't have.'

'Why?!'

'Why? Isn't that obvious?' Haley's voice was shaking a bit. 'I'm not a one night stand girl, Nathan. Sex is a big deal to me. It wasn't… I wasn't-' she stopped talking. Nathan was looking at her full of concern.

'You weren't what, Hales?' he took a step closer to her and pulled her a bit closer to him.

'The next time I wanted to have sex it was supposed to be important,' she paused shifting uncomfortably. His grip on her arm tightened. 'Not some drunken night with the universities biggest-' she cut herself off again. She took a deep breath. 'We just need to pretend nothing happened, go back to how things were.' Nathan was stung by her words. Regret for last night was attached to every word she was saying.

'I don't want to pretend anymore, Hales.' Nathan said flatly. 'For a month we've pretended like we haven't been interacting, every time Brooke asked me something about you I brushed it off, but last night. I won't pretend about that.'

'You don't have a choice!' Haley bit out and yanked her arm out of his grasp. She looked at Nathan and could see the agitation etched into his features. 'You don't get it, last night was a mistake. There's nothing else to it.'

'Haley,' Nathan shot her a look. 'did you not feel anything last night?'

'I felt drunk.' Haley responded sharply. She felt so much more last night but she wasn't about to admit that. She didn't understand why Nathan wasn't willing to just let this go, brush it off. She had been sure he would have agreed to pretend like nothing happened.

'Right.' Was all Nathan said, he gave her one last look. It was filled with frustration and exasperation. He shook his head and turned around, walking straight back for the restaurant. Haley watched him go and had to take a few deep breaths. Then she turned around and went to buy Aspirin.

* * *

Nathan's mood progressively got worst as the day went on; they had decided to head back to university in the late afternoon. So when they had returned he had immediately gone and packed and then watched TV, waiting for when they could leave. He hadn't spoken to Haley since the morning and she had made sure she hadn't been anywhere around him either. He tried to stop himself from thinking about last night but the attempt was futile. He sighed and settled down hoping to be distracted by some TV.

* * *

Brooke was busy packing up, her and Luke wanted to go for one more walk before they left, so they had decided to pack first. Lucas was downstairs busy helping Jake with something. She had just packed a top back into her bag when she heard a phone begin to ring. She looked at the dressing table, it was Luke's phone. She shrugged and walked over to it. She didn't check the caller I.D. and merely answered the call.

'Hey babe,' were the first two words Brooke heard before she could say anything. She froze and then shook her head she probably just heard wrong but then the female voice spoke again. 'Babe? Babe, are you there?' Brooke didn't say a word. She just ended the call. She hadn't heard wrong. Some girl had just called Luke's phone and called him Babe. A term that was in no way platonic. Her heart was racing and so was her pulse. She went to the call logs and checked the recent calls, the girl who had just called was saved as Hannah. Brooke threw the phone on the bed. She could not believe this. She was stupid to think Luke was different. That he wasn't just like every other guy. And she had had sex with him. Why! She threw everything else into her bag and left the room, slamming the door behind her. She went downstairs and walked straight past Lucas not saying anything. She would have her chance but right now she just wanted to leave. She found Nathan sitting on the couch looking just as miserable as she currently felt. She sat down next to him and for a moment felt a sense of familiarity that comforted her. He looked at her when she sat down and he could immediately tell something was wrong.

'What's wrong, Brooke?' Nathan asked her concerned.

'I want to leave,' she paused. 'Now!' she added desperately.

'Did Luke do something?'

'Yes.' The anger in her voice was evident.

'Do I need to beat him up?' Nathan asked seriously and it made Brooke give a small laugh.

'Can we just leave?' she asked him pleadingly.

'I think I want to leave almost as much as you do,' Nathan said turning the TV off.

'Why?' Brooke asked him curiously. He didn't say anything he merely pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

'I will go tell the boys,' Nathan said standing up. 'You get Haley and Peyton.' Brooke nodded and stood up.

'Thank you.' Brooke said and went to go find Haley. There was some confusion as to why they were suddenly leaving earlier. They only real resistance to the change of plans came from Jake and Peyton. Haley immediately agreed and Lucas quickly realised Brooke was angry at him. He had tried talking to her but she told him to leave her alone and then Nathan ran interference. Two minutes later they had convinced Jake and Peyton and the two had gone to pack quickly. Brooke stood outside with Haley. They had their bags packed in the car already.

'What happened?' Haley asked Brooke, she could tell she was upset. Brooke rehashed the story and Haley listened with some horror.

'What the hell is wrong with guys?' Haley said and then realised she may have some misplaced anger and that she knew Luke better than that. She sighed. 'Listen, Brooke, when you calm down just confront him about it. At least give him the chance to explain.' Brooke sighed in frustration but agreed.

'I just need to some space first,' Brooke said sadly. 'What's wrong with you?' she asked a second later. 'And don't say nothing because you look upset and Nathan looks miserable. What happened?'

'You know us too well,' Haley replied she had been trying really hard to act happy and normal. 'If you don't mind, I don't feel like talking about it.'

'I do mind,' Brooke countered. 'Did Nathan do something?' Haley shook her head alarmed.

'We just…' she paused looking for the right words. 'Had a misunderstanding.' Brooke didn't question Haley any further. She figured she would find out when they were ready to tell her. She thought that maybe they just needed to do some damage control first. A minute later Brooke and Haley climbed into a backseat of the car together. Nathan and Luke had come out and packed their stuff in the car and then they climbed in the front of it. Jake and Peyton were the last to come out.

'Is it just me,' Peyton said to Jake as they walked towards the car. 'But do the four of them look almost as unhappy as we were at the start of this trip?'

'Something definitely happened,' Jake replied back agreeing with Peyton. 'They all seem to be upset and angry.' Peyton gave a small laugh.

'Isn't it ironic that we're leaving as the happy ones?' Peyton said and Jake smiled at her and gave her a small kiss.

'Probably,' he said as he packed their bags in the car. 'but I'm glad we aren't as unhappy as they all are.'

'Or that we have to deal with whatever they are dealing with.' Peyton added they walked around the one side of the car.

'What do you think is upsetting Haley and Nathan?' Peyton asked before they got into the car. She found it strange that something would have upset them this weekend. Jake looked at the two and thought of the looks he noticed passing between them at breakfast this morning.

'To be honest, I think Haley and Nathan are upset with each other.' Jake finally said and opened the door for Peyton. She got into the car and considered Jake's words. She didn't know what happened between any of them this weekend but looking at them at all now she knew that the next few days, possibly weeks, were going to be stormy ones for the four of them.


	12. The Storm

**A/N: So this chapter is especially for dianehermans who has been waiting in anticipation for it. Then I just want to say thank you to all who review. I only got 3 reviews for the previous chapter, so if that increases this chapter it would be greatly appreciated.**

**Enjoy the update!**

**Please review!**

**Chapter 12: The Storm**

Haley woke up and flinched at the thunder she was hearing. She checked the time, her nap had extended longer than she had intended. She stretched and got out of bed, she had to admit she felt more energized now. She checked her phone, no messages which relieved her a bit. The past week had been a flurry of messages from Luke, Brooke and even Nathan. Luke wanted to know what was wrong with Brooke, she in turn wanted to know what Haley thought about the situation with Luke. Nathan wanted to talk to her. Her mind kept going back to cheer leading practice this past week, the one day Luke had waited to talk to Brooke and she stood their silently watching as Brooke politely told Lucas not to waste her time. The other practice Haley had been cornered by Nathan who in frustration had yelled at her just as Peyton had arrived. The damage control for that had been hell. Gratefully, Brooke had cancelled the weekends cheer leading practices. Walking into her kitchen, she made herself a cup of coffee and then went to pick a DVD she wanted to watch. It was Saturday night but she had no intention of going out. She had settled down with her coffee and started watching the movie, feeling ever so slightly relaxed. She was about 30 minutes into the movie when suddenly the sound of frantic knocking reached her. She glanced towards her door and moaned. She would have ignored it but the knocking hadn't ceased and it was getting louder. She got up and walked over to it. She took one deep breath, _please don't be Nathan _she mentally asked the universe and opened the door. Staring at her with his fist still raised in the air was Lucas. He dropped his arm and for a moment looked relieved but then the tension returned to his face instantly.

'Luke, what's wrong?' Haley immediately asked him. She knew him well enough to know that he looked more than just mildly panicked.

'I can't get hold of Brooke,' he said in a stressed voiced and entered her room going straight for her couch. He sat down and placed his head in his hands. Haley closed her door and went to stand in front of him.

'Luke,' Haley said gently. 'I hate to say this, but it's not a surprise you can't get hold of her. She has been ignoring you.' Luke scoffed and finally looked up at her. His expression had changed from panic to frustration.

'Don't you think I know that?' Lucas shot out at the same time as it thundered outside. Haley shivered a bit.

'Well then, Snappy, explain what you mean.'

'I mean, Haley, I can't get hold of her or find her. Her phone is off, she isn't in her dorm room. No one seems to know where she is. Do you know where she is?' The stress was back in Luke's voice and he got off the couch and started pacing. Haley shook her head. She hadn't heard from Brooke all day, something which was actually unusual for Brooke. Haley without saying another word quickly walked into her room and retrieved her cell phone. She walked back to Luke and dialed Brooke's number. It went immediately to voice mail. She was beginning to feel stressed now.

'You sure she isn't in her dorm room? Maybe she just didn't answer the door for you.' Haley asked Lucas. He caught her gaze and she knew the answer before he said it.

'I'm sure.' Haley began to pace on her side of the room. Her mind was in over drive.

'Have you called Peyton?' she asked Luke a moment later and he stopped pacing while she continued. He shook his head and then immediately pulled out his phone. They both waited for Peyton to answer. She didn't however and Luke sighed in frustration. 'Try Jake.' Haley merely said and he obliged. This time they got an answer. After a quick conversation with Jake, Luke hung up the phone and looked more dejected than ever.

'Peyton and Jake are together and haven't heard from Brooke all day.' Luke summarised the conversation for Haley. She sighed, a thought was building up in the back of her mind that she was trying very hard to ignore but was failing at it. Haley finally stopped pacing and looked directly at Lucas.

'Nathan.' Haley stated seriously.

'What?' Luke shot out confused. 'I'm Lucas.' Haley had to laugh at that.

'I mean we need to talk to Nathan. He knows Brooke better than anyone else.'

'Ok, let's go.' Luke said and started to walk to the door.

'Go?!' Haley exclaimed stopping him in his tracks. 'Shouldn't we just call him?'

'No, I want to talk to him in person. If Brooke has asked him to cover for her, we'll be able to tell. His a bad liar in person.' Haley couldn't argue with any of that but she really wanted too. The last thing she wanted to do was see Nathan but Brooke was one of her best friends and this was serious. She nodded.

'Can you give me a few seconds?' Haley asked and Luke nodded. She quickly went to her room threw on shoes and a jumper. She emerged and they immediately left. They walked quickly and silently. They were half way to Nathan's when Haley realised she hadn't taken an umbrella. She mentally kicked herself and as if the universe knew she had just thought that, it started to pour. It didn't start off softly either the rain came down in one heavy blanket. She could still hear it thundering too. She looked up and then at Lucas and then ran for it. Lucas didn't hesitate and followed Haley. They both ran for Nathan's building. They reached it swiftly but they were soaked. A minute later they were standing outside Nathan's room door. Haley crossed her arms, she was nervous and cold. Not a great combination. Lucas knocked and then waited. No reply came. He knocked again. This time the door swung open. Nathan stood there in the doorway, looking slightly agitated.

'Luke?' Nathan said as a question and then his eyes drifted to Haley who was standing a bit behind Lucas. She shifted uncomfortably and ran a hand through her wet hair. 'What's going on?' Nathan asked a second later.

'We're looking for Brooke.' Luke replied and Nathan stayed silent. His eyes had drifted to Haley and she could feel him watching her. She finally glanced up and she caught his gaze. She couldn't read his expression and it was driving her crazy.

'We're worried. We can't get a hold of her.' Lucas spoke again, this time the desperation in his voice was evident and it struck Haley. She broke her eye contact with Nathan for a second and looked at Lucas. She then looked back at Nathan and took a deep breath.

'Please, Nathan.' She said softly but firmly. Hearing Haley talk to him and in such an earnest way broke his resolve. He sighed.

'She's here. But she wants to be left alone,' Nathan stated firmly. Haley shook her head and then she stepped past Lucas and stood directly in front of Nathan. She was so close to him she could feel the heat radiating off of him. It made her shiver. The sudden close proximity to Haley made Nathan want to reach down and kiss her or just touch her. With great effort he suppressed both urges. He finally took her in properly and noticed how soaked she was. Her hair was actually dripping water where she stood. Without another word to him, she stepped passed him and into his room. There she found Brooke sitting on his couch; a magazine in her hand.

'Do you not believe in cell phones anymore?' Haley asked Brooke and she looked up at her a bit startled.

'I left it in my dorm room, it's off.'

'Clearly.' Haley stated and folded her arms.

'What happened to you?' Brooke asked taking in Haley's appearance.

'I got caught in the rain, walking to this side of campus to look for you, with a very stressed boy.'

'Well, you found me.' Brooke said casually ignoring Haley's stressed boy comment.

'Brooke, it's enough now,' Haley stated in such a firm voice Nathan actually turned around to look at her. 'We were both worried about you and this passive aggressive behaviour isn't going to solve anything.' Brooke stood up from the couch and folded her arms.

'Haley-' she began in an irritated voice.

'Brooke, you call me out on my shit. And I'm here calling you out on yours.' Haley interrupted and turned to the door. 'Lucas, get in here!' she yelled out and before Nathan could stop him he had moved into the room. Nathan followed after him and shut the door.

'What do you want me to say?' Brooke asked Haley surprisingly. Haley looked back at her friend and could see the hurt expression on her face.

'Tell him what happened. That's all. If you don't, I'm sorry to say this, but I will.' Haley finished and moved a bit so that Lucas could move in front of Brooke.

'Brooke, please, what happened?' Lucas said taking another step closer to her. She stood her ground and looked directly at him. There was anger in her eyes.

'The last day at the cabin while you were downstairs, your phone rang and I answered it. Some girl was on the other end of the line and she called you Babe. I checked your call logs her name was Hannah.' Brooke watched as all the colour drained from Luke's face. He went perfectly still and dropped his gaze to the floor and then slowly looked back at her.

'I can explain-' Luke finally stammered out. This sparked something in Brooke.

'Explain?!' Brooke yelled out and threw her hands in the air. 'You know what would have been better, Luke? If you didn't have to explain! Complete utter ignorance of the girl would have been better. I slept with you! And you have a girlfriend!? And you want to EXPLAIN?' all the anger that Brooke had been keeping in had come pouring out, she walked straight over to Lucas and pointed a finger at him.

'Did Hannah have the wrong number?' she asked in a deadly voice.

'No.' Luke replied honestly. _This wasn't supposed to happen_, was all that was going through his head. _How had this happened? Why had Hannah called him?_ He needed Brooke to listen to him so he tried again. 'Brooke, you don't know the full story.' She stepped closer to him and poked him in the chest.

'Yes, I do,' she poked him again. 'You are just like every guy. All you want to do is sleep with the girl. It doesn't matter how long it takes or what you have to do to make it happen. Just as long as it happens. And it doesn't matter who you fuck over in the mean time. Save your lies, Lucas.' She turned around in a fury and strode right out the room. Slamming the door behind her. Haley looked at Lucas who was staring at the door. The look on his face was of complete and utter disbelief.

'It's pouring out there,' Luke said a second later and moved towards the door but Nathan stepped in his path. 'Nathan, I have to go after her.'

'Luke, did you cheat on her?' The anger in Nathan's voice was clear and Haley watched as he began flexing his fists.

'Its not as simple as that.' Luke replied. 'Nathan, I have to go after her! Move out of my way.'

'It's a yes or no question, Luke. Not complicated at all.' Nathan had taken a step closer to Luke and his one fist had stayed closed. Haley seeing the Look in his eyes, the one she had seen just before he had punched Drew, immediately reacted. She stepped in front of Nathan.

'Calm down,' she said to him and he looked down at her.

'Haley, get out of the way.' She shook her head and placed her hand on his chest. The action took him by surprise. He looked at her again and she shook her head ever so slightly. 'Luke, go after Brooke.' She said without looking back at him. She didn't remove her hand from Nathan's chest either. Within seconds Luke had left the room. Nathan had relaxed ever so slightly at Haley's touch. When the door had closed behind Luke she dropped her hand but didn't move away from him. Being alone with him for the first time, since the cabin, was making her very nervous.

'Why did you let him go, Hales? Brooke doesn't deserve to be treated like that.' Haley studied Nathan for a second before responding.

'I know Luke, Nate. If there is something to explain he should have his chance. If not and it turns out that he really did just cheat on Brooke; then by all means you can punch him the next time.'

'Fine.' Nathan responded and Haley nodded. She stared at him for a few seconds longer before moving to the side.

'I should get going.' She said and took a step to the door.

'What?' Nathan asked shocked and grabbed her arm. The last thing he wanted was for her to leave. He had been dying to just spend some time with Haley and talk to her. 'It's pouring outside. You can't walk back in the rain now.'

'Nate, I'm already soaked,' Haley said trying for some logic. Just then she heard some more thunder followed by lightning.

'Hales, it's not going to happen. You can stay here till it eases.'

'Brooke and Lucas are probably out there-'

'They aren't my concern, you are.' Nathan said seriously. He was still holding her arm. Her skin was cold, which was a stark contrast to the usual heat Nathan normally felt when he touched her. But still he reveled in being able to finally physically feel her again.

'Don't you have an umbrella?' Haley asked him seriously.

'I do,' Nathan responded and cocked his head at her.

'Well, couldn't I just use that then?'

'No.' Nathan flatly responded.

'No? Why not?' Haley said and put her hand on her hip.

'Because I want you to stay here, Hales.'

'Nathan, this is a bad idea.'

'Why?'

'You know why, Nate.' She shot back sternly.

'If I promise to keep my clothes on will you stay?' Nathan asked in a casual joking voice. It was followed by another roar of thunder and Haley tensed a bit at it. She really didn't want to be out there but she also didn't necessarily want to be alone with Nathan.

'Clothes,' she suddenly blurted out. 'I can't stay in these wet clothes.'

'You can have a hot shower and lend some of mine.' Nathan replied, he knew she was thinking of any excuse possible not to be trapped here with him and it irritated him a bit. He finally snapped. 'Haley, stop avoiding me. Weren't you the one who just told Brooke that passive aggressive behaviour won't solve anything? I can't not go through what I went through this past week with you again.' Haley swallowed the intensity in Nathan's voice shook her.

'I don't want to talk about it.' She stated seriously back to him.

'Fine, but you still have to stay here until the weather eases.' Nathan said conclusively and let go of her arm. She nodded and then shivered.

'Can I take that shower now?' she asked him, she really was cold and wanted to get out of her wet clothes. Nathan looked at her and her flushed appearance with her clothes clinging to her. Every time he looked at her properly these past days he couldn't help but think how beautiful she was. He nodded and then she walked towards his bathroom. He followed after her just to get her a towel and some clothes. Once she was inside the shower, Nathan sat down on his couch and contemplated how he was going to handle this evening. He had a chance now to make things right with Haley and he was exceptionally happy about it.

* * *

**A/N: Please review! It only takes a few seconds. Lots of Brucas next chapter. **


	13. One Evening to Change It All

**A/N: When I started writing this chapter, I imagined things to go a bit differently but I like this outcome more. This fic will probably be about 30 chapters plus minus. So things will move quickly from here on out and there will of course be drama.**

**I have to say thank you for the increase in the reviews, it really meant a lot. Please keep the reviewing up. **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 13: One Evening to Change It All**

The rain drops stung Brooke. They were cold and harsh on her skin but she ignored it and kept walking. In some twisted way she enjoyed the stinging sensation the rain brought. It made her feel less numb. She was half way across a courtyard, when a figure ran up in front of her. She stopped dead in her tracks. Brooke eyed Lucas, he was of course as soaked as she was, his face was serious and he was holding out a hand as if to stop her from leaving.

'Brooke,' he finally said. It was hard to actually hear him over the rain.

'I don't have anything to say to you, Luke.' Brooke spoke up. She crossed her arms and looked up into the rain. She closed her eyes for a second and just concentrated on the cool stinging feel of the rain against her skin. She re-opened her eyes and, suddenly, Luke was standing right in front of her. He gripped her arms.

'Then just listen,' he pleaded. She was wide eyed and wet from head to toe and Lucas was struggling to keep a hold on her. He was losing her with every second that passed, he could see it in her expression. She wasn't angry anymore, she was numb, indifferent and it was harder to get someone back when they felt nothing at all. Anger wasn't always a bad thing, although difficult to deal with it, it was just an affect of the underlying emotions being in chaos. Indifference was a complete disregard for the situation and the person, it was easier to move passed someone, if you didn't care anymore. And somehow in a matter of minutes Brooke had gone from anger and hurt to being numb.

'And why would I do that?' Brooke said even louder than before, the rain had picked up. Lucas was at a loss for words_. Why would she do that? Why when he had fucked up so badly? Because really he had._ This situation could have easily been avoided. He let go of her and straightened up.

'Because you deserve to know the truth.' It was the only thing he thought of to say that may convince her to hear him out. He caught her gaze and could see her debating the situation. She unfolded her arms.

'Ok,' she said and then took a step back from him. 'But not out here. The rain is picking up.' Luke nodded and felt such a sense of relief, that he exhaled a breath he didn't even realise he had been holding. He considered where they should go and immediately knew the answer. His room was a minutes walk away and it was private. He took a hold of Brooke's hand, who shot him such a look he almost faltered and let her hand go, but he didn't. He started walking and she followed, silently. Within no time, they were in the warmth of Luke's room. Brooke looked around; she hadn't actually spent much time in his dorm room. They were normally at hers. She took a moment to consider why she had let him bring her here. This wasn't a setting she could just easily leave. Luke was standing across the room from her watching her, she was looking everywhere but at him. He wasn't sure what to do next. Did he just start talking? Then he noticed her shivering.

'Brooke, there are towels in the bathroom and a robe you can change into.' Brooke opened her mouth to protest but stopped herself. She hated the feel of wet clothing sticking to her and she was cold. She also wouldn't mind having a few moments to clear her head either. So, she nodded in response instead and disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

Haley sat down on the couch and looked at her bare feet. After her shower she had asked Nathan if he had a hair dryer. Surprisingly he had, so she had spent a few extra minutes drying her hair and underwear. There was nothing she could do about her clothes, it would take hours to dry them with a hairdryer. Then she had put on one of Nathan's t-shirts. The shirt was long on her and it rested just above her knee. It was almost as good as a dress, which she was grateful for because no pants, of any kind of Nathan's, would fit her or even come close to fitting her. She had emerged from the bathroom and then stood in the lounge area a bit awkwardly. Nathan wasn't there. Eventually she decided to just sit on the couch. So, there she was staring at her bare feet, wondering why her night had ended up with her being here. She was at least feeling a lot warmer. Suddenly, she heard the bedroom door open, she stood up and turned around as Nathan left his room. He stopped dead when he saw Haley standing there, with her curly hair in his red shirt with nothing else on. He had to stifle a groan, she was not making this easy for him. His whole body wanted to touch her. Since that night at the cabin, he had been dying to experience Haley like that again. No matter how many times he tried to rationalise it, he felt something with her he had never felt before and he desperately wanted to feel it again. He realised he might have been staring at her for a few seconds to long and began walking to the kitchen area that adjoined the lounge.

'Can I get you something to drink?' Nathan asked and he watched as Haley fidgeted with her hands.

'Mmmm, some coffee would be great.' She finally said. When Nathan had emerged from his room and saw her, the intensity that had crossed his face was apparent to Haley. The way he was staring at her, should have made her feel uncomfortable but it hadn't. It made her feel excited. She pushed the feelings aside and tried to keep calm. She sat back down while Nathan made them some coffee. A few minutes later a mug was being placed down on the table in front of her and Nathan was sitting next to her on the couch. An awkward silence fell between them. Haley not knowing what else to do took a sip of her coffee. When she placed the mug back down on the table, Nathan finally spoke.

'Thanks for staying,' he said evenly and caught her gaze. She wanted to say that she hadn't really had much of a choice but thought better of it. She nodded in response and shifted on the couch so that she was facing him.

'What are we going to do?' Haley asked him, in what she hoped was a casual and calm voice. He shrugged. There were a million things he wanted to do with Haley but they were all out of the question.

'I thought we could watch a movie, while we're waiting for the rain to calm down,' he hesitated for a second and then continued, 'unless you changed your mind about not wanting to talk?' Nathan would have preferred to just candidly speak about what had happened between them and he did plan on having some conversation about it before their night was over. He would just prefer it, if she wasn't adamantly against it. However, the look she gave him, told him everything he needed to know. He sighed and stood up.

'Movie it is then,' he said and went to go select a DVD. Ten minutes later, after they had finally agreed on a movie and had micro-waved some popcorn, Nathan sat back down and pressed play. Haley had been watching him, the frustration he was feeling was evident. But he was doing a good job at keeping things casual for her. Haley sighed, she felt like Nathan was doing a lot of things just for her and she was so difficult with him. She shifted a bit, so that she was slightly closer to him. She was tense, even being this close to him was clouding her head. A few minutes into the movie, Nathan shifted and his arm brushed hers. Haley turned to look at him, the contact has surprised her.

'Relax, Hales.' Nathan said softly not breaking the eye contact. She gave a small nod, she was going to try and be less difficult with him. Nathan could see something change in Haley, she actually did look less stressed than earlier. He shifted again and this time he was so close to her, only inches away. She studied him, and his words just kept replaying in her head. _"Relax, Hales." _She did want to relax, and more than that she wanted to relax with Nathan. He was so close to her now and that familiar smell of coffee and oranges reached her, her lips parted and she watched as Nathan's hand reached up slowly and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and then came to rest on her cheek. She had to take a deep breath, he had given her goose bumps. She considered the situation and knew they were dangerously close to kissing. She wasn't sure if they started kissing, if they would stop. If _she_ could stop. So, instead, she shifted again, this time turning her back so she could rest on Nathan's chest. Haley's actions had caught him off guard, he was so captivated by being able to touch her and how inviting her lips looked that when she leaned against him, it took him a moment to respond. But he did respond, he wrapped his arms around her and moved with her slightly to get them both a bit more comfortable. Her head was tucked into his neck now. Everywhere her body touched him, was on fire. She didn't say anything and she didn't move away, she just tried to concentrate on the movie and suppress the urge to turn around and kiss him_. What the hell was going on with her?_ Wasthe presiding thought running through her head?

* * *

Brooke emerged from the bathroom wrapped in Luke's soft navy blue rope. She was feeling so much better not being in her wet clothes. She found Luke sitting down with his head in his hands. He had changed too. She came to stop in front of him. Seeing him like this played with her emotions. She didn't want to see him so unhappy but then, she remembered Hannah and his earlier words at Nathan's room, and she didn't feel any concern for his happiness. She sighed and sat down on the table that was directly opposite him. She pulled the rope a bit tighter around her.

'Luke,' she said grabbing his attention and he finally looked up from his hands, 'this is the part where you talk.' He faltered for a second, seeing Brooke across from him, wrapped in his robe, it stirred up all his usual emotions for her.

'I,' he paused and thought about things. _Where exactly was he supposed to start? _'You weren't a conquest, Brooke. This wasn't a game to me; I wasn't doing everything just so that I could sleep with you.' He was watching Brooke very closely. She hadn't moved, she hadn't made any motion to say anything. She just sat there looking unconvinced at his words. 'Say something, Brooke.' He finally urged.

'That doesn't explain, Hannah.' She said solemnly. She had a feeling she really didn't want Hannah to be explained. 'Who is she?' Luke rubbed his neck at the question.

'She was my girlfriend.' He finally said softly and looked down at his hands. She caught the motion. Why couldn't he look her in the eyes now?

'Was or is?' she asked the one question she had been dreading to hear the answer too.

'Was,' Luke paused and looked back up to her. 'It's complicated.' He added and shifted so he was sitting on the edge of the couch.

'How is it complicated? Why don't any of us know about Hannah? Why doesn't Haley?' Brooke blurted out a string of questions. Luke sighed and he placed one hand on her knee. She let him, as well, not moving away from his touch.

'Do you remember last summer when I went on that trip?' Brooke nodded. Lucas had disappeared on a road trip for the entire summer vacation, he had mapped out places he wanted to go to and off he went. No one had gone with him because the reason for his trip was research for a book he was attempting to write. 'I met her about a week into the trip and then she ended up coming with me for the rest of it. It was a summer romance, she goes to a university on the other side of the world. No where near Duke. I decided not to tell any of you about her, I wanted to keep the memories to myself. Savour them. But I haven't heard from her in months.' Luke could see Brooke taking all of this in. She was looking slightly more convinced.

'Why did she call you "Babe" then?' This was the one thing that didn't fit into his story. The one anomaly that didn't make sense.

'This is the complicated part,' Luke replied and he took a deep breath. This was what he was dreading having to tell Brooke. 'We left our relationship open, on the contingency that if we were ever near each other again we would pick it back up. I think that's why she called. I think she's in town. The last time I spoke to her I was still single. I think, she thinks, that's still the case.' Brooke's throat was starting to ache with that dull pain which meant you were normally trying to subdue tears. Was she hearing this right? _Luke had been waiting for a girl? She was his second choice?_ She suddenly stood up and began pacing.

'You've been waiting for a girl all this time? She shot him a look and he looked down and then back up again at her.

'I guess, in a certain context, yes.'

'And you didn't think I should know that?'

'No, I didn't think I would ever see Hannah again. Not after the months of silence.'

'Is that why you waited to have sex with me?' Lucas faltered, he hadn't expected this question. _Was it a reason he had waited? _

'Brooke,' he stood up and went to stand in front of her. 'When I was with you, I was _with you. _I wasn't thinking about Hannah.'

'Answer my question, Luke,' she said in reply and then taking a breath to steady herself. 'Were you waiting to make sure there was no hope with Hannah before you moved on with me?'

'I… I don't know.' Luke finally replied after a few seconds of silence. He watched as tears welled up in Brooke's eyes.

'I was your second choice.' Brooke said and her voice broke on the last word.

'What! No!' Luke exclaimed and tried to put a hand on her cheek but she stepped back. She could feel tears running down her face now. She hated herself, for being such a girl. She wanted to be angry, not hurt. She wanted to be indignant and to slap Luke but she just felt dejected. She wiped at her eyes and then caught his gaze. He looked as miserable as she felt, it seemed, but she wasn't sure if it was because he was losing her or because he had to deal with _this _situation.

'Last question, Lucas,' she held her voice steady. 'What are you going to do about Hannah? Does she change things between us?' Brooke watched as Luke stayed rooted to his spot and held her gaze. He was still rubbing his neck. She waited as he contemplated his answer, she waited to hear what his choice would be, would he just let Hannah go? Or not? He hadn't technically cheated on her but he had left out some vital information. So, now, he had a choice to stay and fight for what they had been developing these past few weeks or go back to the girl he had spent a summer with. 'Luke?' Brooke asked once the silence had finally been too much to bear.

* * *

Nathan and Haley were still watching the movie, they hadn't spoken much during it and they hadn't moved apart. Haley was trying hard to not be so aware of Nathan, but she was failing. His hands were absentmindedly tracing patterns on her thighs and it was driving her crazy. She wanted to rip his and her clothes off right there on the couch. Finally, she interlaced her fingers with his and stopped him from drawing patterns. She felt him sigh and looked up at him. He looked very serious. In the next moment, with his hand that she wasn't holding, he paused the movie.

'Haley, we need to talk about what happened at the cabin,' he could feel her stiffen in his arms and he began to trace patterns on her other leg with his free hand. The motion calmed him, although he had to stop himself from running his fingers all the way up her thigh, like he had wanted to a few times. 'I know you don't want too. But I don't understand it. I need to know why you had such a bad reaction.' Something in Nathan's voice made Haley look up at him, he looked slightly disappointed or sad? She couldn't quite tell. 'I mean, I get the whole-one-night-stand-thing and you not being that type of girl. But Hales, that night wasn't a bad thing for me. I want to do that again.' He added when she had stayed silent. This time Haley did move. She sat up and turned around so she could directly look at him. Did he just say what she thought he had? _He wanted to do it again?_

'You want to get drunk and have sex again?' she finally spoke up and Nathan gave a small laugh.

'I definitely want to have sex with you again. The drunken part is optional,' Nathan was being blunt but there was no time to waste with implications. He had a chance now to talk to Haley and he wasn't sure he would get another one. She blushed at his reply and then sighed.

'Nathan, I'm not that type of girl. It can't happen again.'

'Why?' he asked in frustration. Haley sighed, how was she going to explain this to him?

'Sex isn't a casual thing for me,' she paused and bit her bottom lip for a second. 'I can't just sleep with you.'

'You have to give me more than that, Hales.' he pleaded with her. Although, she had moved and was now sitting on her knees facing him, Nathan had once again begun tracing patterns on her thighs. In this position his top covered more of her legs but that didn't stop him. She looked down at his hand and then back at him.

'That's very distracting, Nate.' She said and then motioned down to his hand when he tilted his head at her. Then he sighed in frustration.

'I don't understand it, you react to me, Hales. You don't seem to hate the contact. So why are you so adamant that what happened between us can't happen again?'

'It just can't,' she began to fiddle with her hair. Was she really going to have to explain that she was waiting for marriage or until she was in love with someone before she wanted to have sex again?

'You need to try,' he paused and placed his palm flat down on her leg. The touch of his hand set butterflies off in her stomach. 'You've obviously had sex before. That wasn't your first time-' Nathan had continued but was interrupted by Haley.

'You sound so sure that wasn't my first time?' she asked. Of course it wasn't but she was curious as to what had made him say that to her. Nathan laughed at her response.

'That was definitely not your first time having sex,' he paused and considered his next words. 'You were quite dexterous.' Haley blushed again and laughed.

'You're right. Of course. It's not that I have anything against sex, it's that I'm waiting.'

'Waiting for what, Hales?'

'For it to be special, important. I don't want sex to be a casual thing.' That had caught Nathan a bit off guard.

'So you're now waiting till marriage?'

'Not necessarily, just until it feels right.'

'And it didn't feel right with me?' Nathan asked, he kept his voice casual but a part of him was stung by the underlying sentiment. Haley moved a bit closer to him and ran a hand through his hair. When had Nathan become so essential to her? The last few days she was doing everything to avoid him but sitting here with him, she felt stupid for doing that. He hadn't even done anything bad to her, in actual fact this past month he had done a lot for her. So, she was having a bit of an internal war with herself. Mentally, she knew that if she just told him that it _didn't _feel right with him, he would drop it and they would go back to how things were prior to everything. But emotionally, she didn't want to lie to him like that. He didn't deserve to be lied to like that and to be made to feel like everything about their encounter had been a mistake. Especially when he evidently didn't view it like that. The truth was, when Haley could be honest with herself, which was a rare occasion these days, it had felt right with him it had felt more than right.

'Nathan, it did feel right,' she honestly said. She didn't know if she was about to regret telling him the truth. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to have sex with you again. We could just work like that, physically, chemically, our bodies-'

'Hales,' he interrupted and sighed with relief. 'I get it.' He then smiled at her.

'Why do you look so happy?'

'Because this I can deal with,' he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and ran his hand all the way up her thigh and then down again, inadvertently pushing his top up with his hand at the same time.

'Deal with?' she asked him confused. He really was driving her body crazy. He gave her a cheeky smile.

'I want a month,' he said seriously. 'And if after that month there will be no chance of us sleeping together ever again, then we can go back to just being friends.' Haley raised her eyebrows at him.

'And what would I have to do during this month?'

'That's easy, Hales, just spend time with me.'

'Out in the open where all our friends can see?' she asked him seriously. She wasn't sure if this was the best time to suddenly reveal that something had happened between her and Nathan.

'Let's play that by ear,' he said in response and gave her another smile. He felt the worlds better. This past week, with Haley ignoring him, had been hell. He didn't like it and he really hated not knowing why she had had such a bad reaction. She finally nodded at him.

'What if I say no, Nathan? To this whole month idea?'

'Then you will be finding me pitching up at your dorm room a lot.' He smiled again at her and then leaned forward and placed a kiss on the top of her head. 'Don't say no, it's only a month.' He said into her hair and then pulled back. She held his gaze and for the first time in a week, she smiled at him.

'Ok.' She finally said and then settled herself back against him. 'Let's watch the end of the movie.' Nathan un-paused the movie and found he felt a lot better than he had at the start of the evening. He thought about the start of the evening and his mind immediately jumped to Brooke. He wondered if she was ok. Without thinking, he had paused the movie again. Haley looked up at him.

'What's wrong?' she asked him concerned, he looked quite stressed again.

'Why did you think letting Lucas go after Brooke was the right decision?' Haley once again moved off him and turned to face him properly.

'I've known Lucas since he was a kid. If there was something to explain, then there was genuinely something to explain. If he had cheated, he would have outright admitted it when Brooke called him on it.'

'It seems quite blatant that he has cheated on her.' Haley gave him a small smile the concern for Brooke was written all over him.

'Nathan,' she said seriously. 'You need to understand that Luke doesn't think in black and white like you and Brooke do. It's not always one way or the other with him, there are shades of grey in every situation. He thinks like that. To understand him and his motives you need to recognise that.'

'You think Brooke and I are that straight forward?'

'Yes, Nathan, I really do. I have seen it and I think you learned it from each other. Maybe, it's not such a bad thing that she has someone to show her how to think in shades of grey too.'

'What if he did do it?'

'Then you really can punch him.' Haley said seriously and she wasn't joking. If Lucas had cheated on Brooke then he did deserve to be punched.

'Do you think she's ok?'

'I hope so,' Haley paused and faced the TV again and then briefly looked back at Nathan. 'And if not, she will be.' She had said it with such certainty that Nathan didn't question it. He watched as she un-paused the movie this time, and gave her full attention to the moving images on the screen. She hadn't moved back to him, so Nathan putting his worry for Brooke aside, went and pulled her back to him. She didn't object, she just looked up and gave him a small smile and then she adjusted them so they were lying down together on the couch. She rested her head on his chest, his one arm encircled her and the other had gone back to tracing patterns on Haley's thigh. This night had turned out a lot differently than either of them had expected but it had been a pleasant turn of events.

* * *

Between Brooke, Lucas, Nathan and Haley, the four of them weren't quite sure how the evening's events had unfolded like they had. What's more, none of them were sure how the next month was going to play out. Brooke, especially who was currently lying in her bed, wasn't sure how she was going to explain what had happened between her and Luke that evening. Hell, she wasn't even sure she _understood _what had happened…

* * *

**A/N: I really actually quite like this chapter so please review it! **


End file.
